Fishers Draws Accolades for Small-Town Charm on Meridian Street
Vibrant. Progressive. Smart.
When you ask someone to describe Fishers, an affluent boomtown just up I-69 from Indianapolis, these are the words that tend to trip off the tongue.
Or even show up in print. The town of 65,000-plus residents was named one of America’s 10 Best Places to Live in 2008 by Money magazine and has, in fact, been on the Best Places to Live list for three years running. This is no shrinking violet of a town, no hidden jewel known only to a savvy few.
Fishers has seen an explosion in growth over the past decade and has handled it with such grace that the people just keep coming. That’s just according to plan, too, says Walter Kelly, a 21-year veteran of the town council. Kelly was one of the pioneers in Fishers, having moved here in 1976.
“When I started, we had about a thousand people,” he says. “When I resigned in 2000, we had about 55,000.”
That’s some leap.
The government played it smart, paying attention to what people wanted. What they wanted, and what Fishers has become, is a town where the median income is over $100,000, the median age is just under 30, the park system boasts some 17 different green spaces, the commute to Indianapolis is just 30 minutes and the Hamilton Southeastern school system is one of the best in the state.
Fishers might have become just a bedroom community, being so close to tony northeast Indianapolis. But Fishers has become that place that embraces the best of both worlds. In one short drive, there are five-star restaurants, museums, world-class shopping and professional sports arenas for everything from race cars to football. But hometown fun abounds, so if you’d rather bike or hike on some of the 60 miles of greenways or lob some bombs at your neighbors during the World’s Biggest Water Balloon Fight over Labor Day in Holland Park, well, that’s here, too.
Fishers has eateries and shopping of its own, and aside from being well known as a great place to raise a family – that accolade, too, was granted to the area in 2008 by Forbes magazine – it’s also a fine place to run a business.
Partners Cindy Johnson and Cindy Hannon started their home-based custom embroidery business in 2002 and now have a larger facility and a warehouse. Cindys’ In Stitches, which personalizes everything from ball caps to Christmas stockings, has made two moves so far in its short run, and business is, er, bursting at the seams.
“We are very committed to trying to do business in this community,” says Johnson, who notes that she and Hannon intentionally chose Fishers as a great place to run their operation. “We have seen tremendous growth. We promote small business, and small business promotes us.”
The choice of Fishers was good on a personal level, too. Hannon and husband Matt live here with 3-year-old twins Tessa and Eli. As a single woman more than a decade ago, Hannon enjoyed the charms Indianapolis had to offer. As a married mom, she appreciates the great school district, affordable housing and family-oriented pleasures of Fishers.
“This town has something for everyone,” she says.
Story by Ellen Margulies
Photo by J. Kyle Keener
