Summary

The first Indy Pizza Festival, which my girlfriend and I eagerly anticipated, turned out to be disappointing. Despite our excitement, we encountered long lines due to only one entrance and a crowded space. The festival area was small with limited pizza vendors, and the food portions were minimal. After struggling through the chaotic environment and feeling unsafe due to inadequate security, we decided to leave in search of food and drinks elsewhere. Overall, many attendees shared our dissatisfaction, feeling misled about the event’s promise.

A couple of months ago, my girlfriend excitedly texted me about a purchase she made for us. The inaugural Indy Pizza Fest was set to take place in August on Monument Circle. From what I briefly read about the event, it was going to feature live music and a contest for the best pizza in Indy, judged by celebrity judges. I was intrigued, but ever since the Fyre Festival, I’ve been wary of new events. The tickets for this event were expensive, but I didn’t ask her how much she originally paid for them. I told her I would keep the date open and that I was excited to try it out.

Well, today was the day we had been eagerly anticipating since purchasing our tickets a couple of months ago: the first Indy Pizza Festival! Since we live downtown, we decided to walk to the circle around 11:30 AM.

Now, I want to be transparent about my experience and take some accountability for it as well. I didn’t check the map that was posted on the @indypizzafest Instagram account to find out where the entrance to the event was located. I was under the impression that the festival would occupy the entire circle, with multiple entrances on at least three sides, especially considering the Spark Indy park on the northwest side. My expectations might have been higher than they should have been, and I will admit that I was expecting the worst.

However, I discovered that there was only one entrance, located on the south side at Meridian and Washington. My first thought was, “Why is there only one way in and out?” Then I saw it—the line. Panic began to creep in as I walked nearly three blocks to reach the back of the line.

My next thought was about how many tickets they sold. “Were all the ticket holders showing up at the same time?” I noticed that the area where the festival was being held had interlocking metal gates around it, along with about seven portable restrooms. It occupied only the street area of about a third of the entire circle, which has four branching streets in all directions. I wondered, “How were all these people going to fit in such a limited space?” I also noticed there weren’t many pizza vendors for this event or at least as many as they were supposed to have. “Was I going to eat?” “How was the pizza being served?” “Would we just walk up and grab a piece from the tables?” All valid questions I was discussing with myself and my girlfriend.

Since I have ADHD, my inner dialogue is constantly busy. We almost left when we saw the long line, but we decided to stick around. More people kept arriving, and they all looked very concerned. There were strollers and wagons with kids in them, which would complicate things and make the area even more crowded.

We finally arrived at the entrance, where a small team was scanning tickets and a few people were checking bags. However, they only glanced inside and did not seem to have any formal security training. Having worked event security for numerous events around Indianapolis, I know what they should have been looking for and how it should be conducted. With only two or three guys checking bags for 4,500 attendees at one entrance, there weren’t enough personnel to ensure the safety of the event. As a result, my safety alarm was going off. I was starting to get an Astroworld vibe now.

We entered and walked up to the stage, immediately noticing lines starting to form at the first two pizza tents, which were poorly marked, making it unclear who was serving at each. We decided to bypass those and looked for another vendor since everyone was hitting a bottleneck. As we made our way around the corner, the street narrowed in the circle, with vendors in tents and trucks lining both sides.

We joined the line behind someone after confirming they were waiting for pizza. However, right next to us was another line for a vendor ahead, which meant that after we got our pizza, we would have to turn around and walk back down, only to do it all over again. The area continued to get more congested, and I started looking for a tent where I could get water or soda, but all I found were the Upland tent and West Fork Whiskey. I don’t drink often, so I was in no mood for that; I just wanted pizza.

Finally, I got my first slice of pizza, which was about an inch and a half square. At that point, I realized we were not going to get our money’s worth in pizza samples. As we stood in line, I talked to others who shared the same thoughts, and many seemed ready to leave the event in search of food elsewhere.

We decided not to continue trying to maneuver through the crowd, especially after a couple of people pushed past us. One of them nearly broke the lens of my Fuji camera while rushing to catch up with a friend who pushed through me and another guy instead of waiting to move past.

When we left, our first goal was to find something to drink and some air conditioning. We encountered several other attendees at the IPF, some wearing matching pizza outfits, who felt disappointed and misled.

When we got home, I started checking social media and the event’s page again. Most of the footage they shared that wasn’t from a drone was taken before the crowd fully arrived, which would have been just before I stood in line for 40 minutes. Initially, the event organizers were very responsive to commenters, but now they have fallen silent. Many comments highlighted major disappointments from attendees. The only people who seemed to have anything positive to say appeared to have influencer ties to the event. I’m not sure if they were trying to mislead people or if they are just as poor at public relations as they are at event organization, but they need to make improvements, especially after taking everyone’s money. One Instagram comment I read stated that they had returned later to find that only one vendor was still open and the others had closed. The event was scheduled to run from 12:00 to 6:00. Evidently, once the contest was judged, everyone packed up and left. That happened at 4:30.

My thoughts on moving forward: The event is a great idea, but it needs more vendors, including options for refreshments other than alcohol. Additionally, it required a much larger space considering the number of tickets sold. The event was massively oversold, and I’m not sure how they calculated the square footage. With so many people in such a narrow space, it seems they must have considered the entire area of Monument Circle. Each person should have had at least five square feet of space, but we were packed in tightly the entire time we were there.

I also want to point out that they opened up more ticket sales that morning. Prioritizing profit over people’s safety is a recipe for disaster. The event felt like it was one accident away from becoming a national headline. From my experience, this event has gone down as Indy’s version of the Fyre Festival—let’s call it the Indy Fyre Pizza Festival. I hope they learn from this experience and return next year with different organizers who make better decisions, keeping safety and people’s thoughts in mind.