Author: woodruffadmin

To the average Woodruffian, the annual Flea Market is a weekend in June to celebrate the neighborhood. Like many new neighbors, my first encounter came as a complete shock: There are thousands of people! No, seriously. Thousands. Even if the weather isn’t accommodating, central Indiana shows up for this magical weekend in June. Over the years my household has developed a year-long preparation plan:

1. Put stuff in the garage and basement marked ‘flea mkt’ all year long.
2. Forget about all of the stuff to sell until the week before.
3. Panic ensues.
4. Scramble on Flea Market Eve getting stuff ready to sell.
5. Saturday morning comes and you give up, have a drink with friends and people watch.

When talking with long-term residents about their process, I get the sense that we all experience this at one point or another.

No one really knows when the Flea Market started. I’ve put a date on the official website of 1975, but even that date may not be accurate. I have it on record from one of the original planners that instead, 1976 was the most likely inaugural event. You see, back then the neighborhood was a completely different place. The Flea Market was THE primary fundraiser for a neighborhood completely dedicated to the bootstraps type quality of life improvement and neighborhood preservation. Their goal was to coordinate a neighborhood activity with the country’s bicentennial festivities and use it to fundraise. That first year, residents donated 100% of the proceeds from their individual sales to the neighborhood – netting around $1,000.

As new neighbors came into the fold, they too were just as skeptical about this tall tale of ‘thousands’ of people shopping at the flea market. In the mid-80’s, Tom Abeel, a first time participant, doubted Kimbal and Tessie Lloyd-Jones’s attendance estimates – until they witnessed the 1987 event, “we half-heartedly put a few things in the yard, and holy smokes: Everything sold on Saturday!”

Rosanna Hardin-Hall grew up in Woodruff in the 1940s and 50s, and returned as a full-time resident in 1995. She says her first few flea market years were dedicated to selling off the previous two generations of her family’s belongings from 700 Middle Drive to clear a spot to make a home for herself. Over 20 years into her second-term of residency, she looks forward to sharing her artistic talents by performing charcoal drawings for passers-by.

Now in its 40-something the year of operation, several neighbors prefer to donate their yard to the Flea Market committee, who places an approved vendor in the space for a fee. Some Woodruffians are convinced that this is the best way to enjoy the event – letting someone else do the work while getting to enjoy the best food, drinks and friends on porches throughout the weekend. While you’re finishing off some buffalo nachos, ice cream, elephant ear, draft beer and meat on a stick, be sure to take a minute to appreciate the hard work of the small army of volunteers operating in the background to pull this event off.

A few years ago, several volunteers began the process of creating a 10 year strategic plan for Woodruff Place. This first-of-its kind plan for the new millenia set the course for infrastructure investments that eventually became some of the guiding ideas for our Economic Improvement District (EID). Leaders identified investment budgets for our five primary historic infrastructure assets: Town Hall, 10th Street Fence, Statues & Urns, Fountains and Streetlights. The estimated total for this work was set at $832,900 by 2023.

Looking back at the goals established in that plan and marking each major achievement along the way is mirroring the larger revitalization process throughout the Near Eastside. Woodruff Place is but a single neighborhood of the 18 or so neighborhoods that make up what is known as the Near Eastside. The borders stretch from the interstate 65/70 interchange on the west, the railroad tracks on the south side of Washington Street, Emerson to the east and interstate 70 to the north. That’s a large area with a population of about 30,000 residents. In the time since the early strategic plan, the Near Eastside Quality of Life plan, which lead to the Indianapolis Super Bowl Legacy Project, Near Eastsiders have been witness to a dramatic improvement in many areas in a relatively short amount of time. However, just like our own aged infrastructure and investments in Woodruff Place, there is still a lot more work to do in the greater neighborhood.

Just now we are starting to see investment from outside the community. Where I used to have my car serviced is turning into one of the most anticipated restaurants in the city. What used to be a massive eye sore (CCIC building), on the verge of falling down, is now Centerpoint Brewery and a maker space and lots of independently owned shops. There’s a protected bike lane on Michigan and on New York. The Mayfair building (next to Burger King on 10th Street) doesn’t have holes in the walls and is on its way to being a new brew pub. Near East Area Renewal recently completed their 100th home renovation in St. Clair Place. One of our IPS schools, Thomas Gregg Elementary, once on the verge of takeover candidacy, is now an innovation school. It’s still part of the IPS system but run independently by Near Eastside community leaders. The federal IndyEast Promise Zone has delivered on its designation, securing over $120m in grant awards for the area in a little over two years.

Every resident who has lived here for the past 5-10 years can see the fruit of this labor and it has created a great deal of excitement around the future. But it’s not a distant future anymore. That future vision identified in plans is right there, on the horizon – but the work isn’t finished. There is room at the table for so many volunteers and so many more projects. There is opportunity for private/public partnership, as we’re seeing with some of the multifamily residential projects going on all around us. There may be an opportunity with the former IREF site in the coming years. The work is not done on the Near Eastside and the work is not done in Woodruff Place. It’s a great time to be here and I can’t imagine myself, or my family, anywhere else.