illuminate. innovate. indianapolis.

Every year, the 500 Festival welcomes race weekend in Indianapolis with the city's grandest welcome party, the IPL 500 Festival Parade. The celebration takes a new form each year with a different theme to highlight the stories, the people, the inspiration for float designs and the Grand Marshal announcement. In 2018, the theme is inspired by Indianapolis' innovation, and the 500 Festival hopes to shine a light on this city's thriving tech hub; Illuminate. Innovate. Indianapolis.

“The 2018 theme for the IPL 500 Festival Parade is very meaningful, not just for the mission of the 500 Festival and IPL, but for this entire city and its celebration of May. Not only does our title sponsor IPL illuminate Indy every single day – and as a sponsor since the very first Parade in 1957 – but together we can highlight Indy’s commitment to innovation through this year’s celebration. It’s sure to be a spectacular occasion as we put Indy center stage and light it up for the world to take notice.” – Bob Bryant, president and CEO, 500 Festival

This theme will be conveyed in numerous ways throughout the IPL 500 Festival Parade. Floats are encouraged to embrace the challenge of exemplifying bright, neon, or metallic colors alongside light shows and other displays of illumination and innovation. The opening entertainment for the IPL 500 Festival Parade will feature hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari and technology dance group iLuminate. Together, they will take over the streets of downtown Indianapolis for an electrifying performance that will kick off the 62nd IPL 500 Festival Parade. This year's Grand Marshals, Abby Abel and Mitch Bonar, are also a shining example of individuals innovatively changing lives across the state of Indiana.

2018 IPL 500 Festival Parade Theme

Every May, the world turns its focus to Indianapolis. Beaming with civic pride and radiating a racing spirit, together we will present a city that shines bright at the forefront of a cutting edge world. 2018 is about illuminating the history, tradition, and sacrifices of our heroes on Memorial Day Weekend, while looking forward and saluting Indy’s commitment to innovation. This May, it’s “Showtime” for a city that deserves to be the star. So let’s turn the lights up high, point the camera on Indy, and take action for the 102^nd Running of the Indy 500. Illuminate. Innovate. Indianapolis.   

“We are incredibly excited about the theme for the 2018 IPL 500 Festival Parade. At IPL, we’ve leveraged opportunities to create new solutions for our customers through a number of sustainability, innovation and community involvement initiatives so this year’s theme is a home run. The idea of illuminating Indianapolis makes this celebration very special for us, and we can’t wait to help power the parade for the 62^nd time.” – Craig Jackson, president and CEO, IPL

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