and events membership organization.
It publishes the Indiana Festival Guide each year, featuring over 500 festival listings. Festival and event members receive promotion, leadership and education opportunities.
We’ve got it covered!
500,000 copies of the Indiana Festival Guides are distributed at more than 1,200 locations in all 92 Indiana counties each year.
Interested in becoming an ISFA member
or publishing your festival, event, or organization in the Indiana Festival Guide?
Click “JOIN US” for more information!
Four ways to get your Indiana Festival Guide
~ ISFA News & Updates ~
Indiana State Festival Association is a proud supporter of the Indiana Fairs and Festivals Convention!
< Scroll through Images from this Past Convention in January
Join us next year for the 2024 Indiana Fairs and Festivals Convention.
How to Plan & Produce Your Festival / Event
The Indiana State Festivals Association and Visit Indiana have provided a comprehensive manual to help you plan every stage of your event, from concept to post-festival evaluation. In addition, other “RESOURCES & HOW-TO GUIDES” are also available.
Learn more>Indiana State Festivals Association Queen Update
We are excited to bring back the ISFA Scholarship Pageant again this year! See more details by clicking the button below…
IOTD & ISFA Celebrates Hoosier Energy Support
Hoosier Energy started the Festival Guide as a community service to their membership in 1972 and it quickly spread statewide. Hoosier Energy had a vision for travelers to, and in, Indiana. That vision still shines brightly years later, just like the millions of light bulbs that Hoosier Energy powers across this great State. All of us in the travel and tourism industry, including our ISFA member festivals, owe a debt of thanks to the foresight of Hoosier Energy.
CLICK HERE to read more...Mark Your Calendar
Upcoming Board Meetings
Friday and Saturday, January 6 & 7
ISFA Board of Directors Meetings
Location both days: Marriott East Hotel, Indianapolis
Dinner Meeting on January 6 at 6pm Eastern Time (ET)
Dinner Meeting on January 7 at 5:30pm Eastern Time (ET)
Friday and Saturday, April 14 & 15
ISFA Board of Directors Meeting & Spring Workshop
Dinner Meeting on April 14 at 7:00 pm Eastern Time (ET) at Hampton Inn & Suites in Franklin, IN
After Spring Workshop on April 15 at Hampton Inn & Suites in Franklin, IN
Saturday, June 10
ISFA Board of Directors Meeting
Working Lunch on June 10 at 11 am at Hendricks County Fairgrounds, Danville
Friday and Saturday, November 10 & 11
ISFA Board of Directors Meeting & Annual Meeting
Location Both Days: Greenfield Central High School Cougar Room
Board Meeting Annual Retreat on November 10 Dinner at 6:45 pm Eastern Time (ET); 7 pm Meeting
Annual Membership Meeting on November 11 at 8:30 am ET
Annual Board Retreat on November 11 at 9 am ET
Questions? Contact ISFA CoordinatorDoug Weisheit at 765-592-1662 or email info@indianafestivals.org.
Indiana Festival Guide Covers
As produced by Indiana State Festivals Association
ISFA is proud to announce that the following festivals will be featured in upcoming editions of the Indiana Festival Guide:
2023 – Festival Country, Johnson County
2024 – Pieorgi Fest
2025 – The Festivals of Greene County
2026 – The Festivals of Shelby county
2027 – Parke County Covered Bridge Festival
2028 – The Festivals of Madison, Indiana
Past Covers:
2022 – 75th Annual Mitchell Persimmon Festival
2021 – The Festivals of Dubois County
2020 – The Festivals of French Lick West Baden
2019 – The Festivals of Clinton County
2018 – Kiwanis Club of South Central Indiana Balloon Fest
2017 – The Festivals of Anderson/Madison County
2016 – Nappanee Apple Festival
2015 – Circus City Festival
2014 – Marshall County Blueberry Festival
2013 – The Battle of Corydon Reenactment
2012 – Riley Festival
2011 – Parke County Covered Bridge Festival
2010 – Swiss Wine Festival
View All Indiana Festival Guide Covers
~ Staff & Board of Directors ~
Staff
ISFA Coordinator
info@indianafestivals.org | 765-592-1662
Evenings after 7pm is the best time or leave a message on the answering machine and I will do my best to get back with you very soon.
Regional Account Executives
Board of Directors
~ ISFA AWARDS & HONOREES ~
JOSEPHINE HAUK AWARD
IN HONOR OF JOSEPHINE HAUK (pictured left) – Founding ISFA Board Member, 1992 IFEA Hall of Fame Inductee, Formerly of the Indianapolis 500 Festival
Josephine Hauck was the Executive Director of the 500 Festival for nearly three decades. She transformed it into one of the greatest festivals held in the state and throughout the nation.
Her leadership and strong demeanor lead her to be affectionately known as “General Jo”. Each May she would lead her board and thousands of volunteers in producing the merry month of May in Indianapolis. Founded by civic leaders in 1957, the 500 Festival was created to celebrate the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the annual running of the Indianapolis 500 each May.
Jo Believed strongly in the need for festival planners to share their enthusiasm, ideas, and experience for the betterment of all festivals. She is credited with founding the Indiana State Festivals Association in 1972. An award in her name was established in 1993 and is still given annually at the Indiana State Festivals Association Convention to an individual who has contributed significantly to the building of festivals in the state of Indiana. Josephine was awarded the prestigious Sagamore of the Wabash by two different Indiana Governors. The award is the highest honor the Governor of Indiana can bestow upon one of its citizens.
Josephine was one of the founding fathers of IFEA as well. She worked tirelessly networking with festivals across the country and led the organization in its early years. She attended the annual convention regularly with her husband Kenny who she met while he was serving as President of the 500 Festival in 1967. They were a concerted team and each other’s biggest supporter. She continued to be active in festival work even after her retirement from the 500 Festival in 1992.
Editor’s Note: Josephine Hauck, CFEE, passed away in 1997
ANN RETSECK MEMORIAL GRANT
- This memorial grant is dedicated to Ann Gettinger Retseck for all the time and effort she put into her community and the Merom Bluff Chautauqua. The grant makes attendance to the Annual ISFA Fall Convention possible for ISFA members who need assistance in paying their representatives’ costs.
- Any ISFA Festival member that has not been awarded the Ann Retseck Memorial Grant for the past three (3) conventions is eligible to apply. Applications are open to any member of ISFA whose dues are current.
- The ISFA Board of Directors will award up to a maximum of $1,000.00, usually between $100 and $250 per ISFA Festival member.
- The Grant winner must attend the conference, pay in full and then will be sent a check for the amount of the Ann Retseck Memorial Grant on the Sunday meeting of the ISFA Board of Director Meeting during the Convention weekend.
AWARD WINNERS
2020 Freetown Freedom Festival
2018 North Judson Mint Festival
2015 Northern Indiana Lakeview Festival
2013 Cumberland Art Goes to the Market
Fun Fest by the River
The Elkhart Jazz Festival
Yellowstone Trail Fest
Fest of the Turning Leaves
2011 Roann Covered Bridge Festival
HARRELL MEMORIAL GRANT
- This memorial grant is dedicated to Charlene “Shorty” Harrell of the Lagro Good Ole Days Festival, who passed away on November 9, 2012 while attending the ISFA Fall Convention.
- The grant makes attendance to the Annual ISFA Fall Convention possible for ISFA members who need assistance in paying their representatives’ costs.
- Any ISFA Festival member that has a budget of less than $10,000 and has not been awarded the Charlene “Shorty” Harrell Memorial Grant for the past three (3) conventions is eligible to apply. Applications are open to any member of ISFA whose dues are current.
- The ISFA Board of Directors will award up to a maximum of $1,000.00, usually between $100 and $250 per ISFA Festival member.
- The Grant winner must attend the conference, pay in full and then will be sent a check for the amount of the Charlene “Shorty” Harrell Memorial Grant on the Sunday meeting of the ISFA Board of Director Meeting during the Convention weekend.
AWARD WINNERS
2020 Freetown Freedom Festival
2018 North Judson Mint Festival
ISFA – KIRK WORKS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
2020 Don Morrison, Blueberry Festival
2019 Kirk Works, Swiss Wine Festival