THE Outdoor Sports Lake & Cabin Show
March 16-18, 2012
Memorial Coliseum – Ft. Wayne, IN
Right place – Right market…
About Fort Wayne, IN:
Sports, Culture, Parks, Diversified Economy, Recreation, Population – Fort Wayne has it all!
Fort Wayne is a city in northeastern Indiana, United States and the county seat of Allen County. It is the second largest city in Indiana and offers 600,000 people in the metro area. Allen County has grown over 20% in the last decade alone. Fort Wayne sits within a 250-mile (400 km) radius of 17 percent of the total United States population and also within a day’s drive of half of the nation’s population. The city’s economy is based on manufacturing, education, health care, and defense and security, with agriculture being the primary economic activity in the metro area. The city has been presented with the All-America City Award in 1982-1983 and 1998.
In recent history, the focus of citizens has been the concern of bolstering business and beautification in the core of Fort Wayne. Within the last decade, the city has improved in this venture, with the renovations and expansions of the Main Library Branch and Grand Wayne Convention Center, as well as the addition of Headwaters Park. It was announced in 2006 that a $130 million development, containing a new baseball stadium, parking garage, condominiums, shops, and Courtyard by Marriott, was to begin construction in downtown Fort Wayne by 2008. This revitalization project is known as Harrison Square.
A major manufacturing center in the Midwest by the mid-20th century, Fort Wayne included such employers as General Electric, Westinghouse, and International Harvester. Also vital employers, Phelps Dodge, Rea Magnet Wire, and Essex Wire comprised the largest concentration of copper wire production globally during World War II. As the 20th century came to close, advancements in technology and the reduction of manufacturing jobs nationally led Fort Wayne to be counted among other cities in the Rust Belt. However, Fort Wayne’s economy has diversified with time to include defense and security, health care, and insurance.
In 2009, Forbes ranked the Fort Wayne metropolitan area 67th on its list of 200 metropolitan areas in its annual “Best Places For Business And Careers” report. Individually, the city was ranked 5th in cost of living and 12th in cost of doing business.[60]
Fort Wayne is headquarters for such companies as Do It Best, Genteq, Medical Protective, North American Van Lines (Sirva), Rea Magnet Wire, Steel Dynamics, Sweetwater Sound, and Vera Bradley. Steel Dynamics is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in the city, ranking 318th.[61]
Fort Wayne’s ten largest non-government employers:[62]
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Education
The map shows which school districts serve Allen County. Blue represents Northwest Allen County Schools, yellow East Allen County Schools, dark pink Fort Wayne Community Schools, and green Southwest Allen County Schools.
Fort Wayne is home of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), with an enrollment of 11,943. It is the fifth-largest public university campus in Indiana. The city also holds the main campus of the Northeast Region of Ivy Tech Community College, the second-largest public community college campus in Indiana. Indiana University maintains the third public higher educational facility in the city with the Fort Wayne Center for Medical Education, a branch of the IU School of Medicine.
Fort Wayne’s private colleges and universities include religious-affiliates and secular institutions. Religious-affiliated schools include the University of Saint Francis (Roman Catholic), Concordia Theological Seminary (Lutheran), Taylor University Fort Wayne (Evangelical Christian), and Indiana Wesleyan University (Wesleyan Church). Non-religious colleges and universities include the Indiana Institute of Technology (IIT) as well as regional branches of Trine University, Brown Mackie College, Harrison College, ITT Technical Institute, and International Business College.
By means of private education, Roman Catholic residents of Fort Wayne and Allen County are served by the schools of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. Two of the four high schools in the diocese, Bishop Luers High School and Bishop Dwenger High School, are located in Allen County along with 13 of the 39 grade schools. Lutheran Schools of Indiana operate 14 schools within Allen County, including Concordia Lutheran High School. Blackhawk Christian School, Canterbury School, and Keystone Schools provide private pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade education.
Libraries
Fort Wayne and Allen County residents have been served by the Allen County Public Library (ACPL) and its fourteen branches since its founding in 1895 as the Fort Wayne Public Library. The entire library system began an $84.1 million overhaul of branches in 2002, finishing work by 2007. The centerpiece, the Main Library Branch, now covers 367,000 square feet (34,100 m2), featuring an art gallery, underground parking garage, bookstore, café, and community auditorium. According to data from 2005, 5.4 million materials were borrowed by patrons, and 2.5 million visits were made throughout the library system.
In 1997, Places Rated Almanac recognized Fort Wayne as having the highest reading quotient of any place in North America, due in part to the city’s quality library system.
Culture
Festivals
- BBQ RibFest is a four-day event held in mid-June at Headwaters Park, showcasing barbecue rib cooks and vendors, as well as musical performances from across the nation.
- Fort-4-Fitness debuted in 2008 as a way to motivate residents to take steps in creating healthier lifestyles. The festival includes a certified half-marathon, 4-mile run/walk, health fair, and healthy food expo. Over 6,200 people participated in the festival’s inaugural run.
- Germanfest, first celebrated in 1981, commemorates Fort Wayne’s largest ethnic group with such events as the Germanfest Bake Off and National Weiner Dog Finals. German cuisine, dance, and fashion are showcased in the eight-day celebration, held in the first week of June at Headwaters Park.
- Greek Fest is a four-day event held at the end of June at Headwaters Park. The festival, which originated in 1986, celebrates Fort Wayne’s local Greek population and heritage.
- HolidayFest begins the day after Thanksgiving with the lighting of the Wolf & Dessauer Department Store Santa and Reindeer light display, the Wells Fargo Holiday Tree, and the Indiana Michigan Power Christmas Wreath. Other events through the season include the Festival of Gingerbread at The History Center, the Festival of Trees at the Embassy Theatre, and the Headwaters Park Ice Rink.
- Johnny Appleseed Festival is a two-day festival held in the third week of September at Johnny Appleseed Park, where John Chapman is believed to be buried. Traditionally, the festival features food, crafts, and historical demonstrations recalling the era of Johnny Appleseed.
- National Soccer Festival is staged at IPFW’s Hefner Soccer Complex where event-goers celebrate the sport of soccer on the collegiate level, with such activities as golf outings, live entertainment, and food vendors. In 2008, twelve universities participated in the event.
- Three Rivers Festival is the paramount of northeast Indiana festivals, annually attracting an estimated 400,000 event-goers. The festival’s run annually spans nine days in mid-July, featuring over 200 events, including a community parade through downtown, a midway, food alley, hot dog eating contest, bed race, arts fair, and fireworks spectacular.
Performing arts
The John and Ruth Rhinehart Music Center opened in late 2007 to hold community concerts and university events. The 85,000-square-foot (7,900 m2) auditorium includes 1,600 seats, located next to Williams Theatre and the Visual Arts Building, on the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne campus. Located downtown, Cinema Center features independent, foreign, classic and documentary films.
Arts United Center, located adjacent to the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, houses the Fort Wayne Civic Theater and Fort Wayne Youtheatre, with seating for 663.
The Scottish Rite Center contains a 2,086-seat auditorium and a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) Valencia Ballroom.
Foellinger Outdoor Theatre, in Franke Park near the zoo, offers seasonal acts and movies during warmer months.
The Firehouse Theater, in remodeled Enginehouse #10, contains 73 seats and presents original works and classics adapted for stage.
The Historic Embassy Theatre, located across from the Grand Wayne Center, presents shows ranging from concert tours, Broadway musicals, dance, community events and lectures, serving over 200,000 patrons annually. The Embassy is also home to the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Grand Wayne Center, though used mainly for exhibitions and conventions, also plays host to dance or choir productions, such as the annual FAME Festival (The Foundation for Art and Music in Elementary Education), which showcases local school choirs and dancers.
Museums
Fort Wayne includes a handful of museums:
Science Central is a “hands-on” science center, located in Lawton Park just north of downtown Fort Wayne, offering children hundreds of interactive exhibits. Though once functioning as Fort Wayne’s City Hall, the building now houses The History Center.
The Corvette Classics Museum features more than fifty restored classic Corvettes dating back to 1953.
The Fort Wayne Firefighters Museum, located at Engine House #3 in downtown Fort Wayne, exhibits artifacts from the Fort Wayne Fire Department, dating back to 1839, as well as showcasing four early previously-used fire engines.
The Jack D. Diehm Wildlife Museum of Natural History showcases stuffed and mounted North American wildlife animals in habitat settings.
The African/African-American Historical Museum, which opened near downtown in 2000, contains two floors and ten exhibits relating to slavery in the United States, the Underground Railroad, African-American inventors, and the history of the local African-American community. The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, located in downtown Fort Wayne, contains 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) of exhibition space, along with an auditorium. It was announced in May 2008 that the FWMoA would add 10,000 square feet (930 m2) more exhibition space and other amentities by spring 2010.
The Greater Fort Wayne Aviation Museum, located inside the Lieutenant Paul Baer Terminal at Fort Wayne International Airport, highlights aviation history in Fort Wayne, as well as memorabilia relating to historical aviation figures such as Fort Wayne’s own Art Smith and World War I Ace, Paul Baer. The History Center, located in Fort Wayne’s Old City Hall, manages a collection of more than 23,000 artifacts recalling the history of Fort Wayne and Allen County; the center is overseen by the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, which also maintains the Chief Jean Baptiste de Richardville House.
Sports
The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, as seen from Johnny Appleseed Park.
Fort Wayne was rated the “Best Place in the Country for Minor League Sports” in a 2007 issue of Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal. The city is the current home of seven minor league sports franchises. These include the Fort Wayne Fever of soccer’s Premier Development League, the Fort Wayne Flash of the Women’s Football Alliance, the Fort Wayne Flyers of the Minor League Football Association, the Fort Wayne Freedom of the Continental Indoor Football League, the Fort Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League, and the Fort Wayne TinCaps of baseball’s Midwest League. There is also a presence of intercollegiate sports in Fort Wayne; IPFW in the NCAA’s Division I Summit League, as well as NAIA schools Indiana Tech and the University of Saint Francis.
Fort Wayne has also been home to three former professional sports franchises. These include the NBA’s Fort Wayne Pistons (now in Detroit), the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and the Fort Wayne Kekiongas of the National Association of Professional Baseball Players (an early predecessor to the current MLB).
Fort Wayne has also been home to a few sports firsts; the first major league baseball game was played May 4, 1871, between the Fort Wayne Kekiongas and the Cleveland Forest Citys. It was rained-out in the top of the ninth inning, with the Kekiongas ahead 2-0. Another first, on June 2, 1883, Fort Wayne hosted the Quincy Professionals for one of the first lighted baseball games ever recorded. Fort Wayne has also been credited for being the birthplace of the NBA when Fort Wayne Pistons owner Fred Zollner brokered the merger of the BAA and the NBL in 1949 from his kitchen table.
Click here to contact Coliseum Productions, Inc.
19484 Whispering Woods Court
Noblesville, IN 46060
p: (317) 227-7419
f: (877) 491-3753
info@coliseumproductions.net
