INDIANAPOLIS — Downtown Indy landmark Georgia Street will look anything but normal in June, as the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials takes over downtown Indy for nine nights of creating Olympians in the pool.
Everything will get started on June 14 with The Starting Block Party out on Georgia St. Fans and locals alike will kick off the swim trials time in Indy with live music at USA Swimming LIVE presented by Purdue University.
The experience will have different national and local musical acts performing every night from June 14 to June 23 on Georgia St. Each of the concerts will be free to the public.
Georgia St. will also have food and drink ready to go, even with a “swim up” bar.
Inside the Indiana Convention Center, fans will find the Toyota Aquazone. It’s a free and family-friendly fan fest, similar to what Hoosiers saw at the convention center during the NBA All Star Weekend.
Possibly the most captivating of the downtown additions is the 66-foot replica Eiffel Tower that will be positioned where Georgia St. meets the convention center. It will even light up at night.
”It’s going to be 66 feet tall, by 25 feet, by 25 feet, and about 24,000 pounds,” said Consuelo Lockhart, the executive director of the Latinas Welding Guild. The local group has been contracted to build the replica.
”I don’t feel like this is a real project we’re working on,” Lockhart said. “I think it’ll probably set in once we start getting things in place, but I think it’s a very proud moment for everyone who’s worked so hard on this.”
She said assembly of the Eiffel Tower will begin soon, ultimately leading up to four days of assembly on Georgia St. starting on June 10.
”Right now we’re finalizing some of the prints, we’re working from top down,” Lockhart said. “It’s going to be constructed in sections, so we’re going to be getting material cut and welding together.”
From there they’ll take the pieces on flatbeds to Georgia St. and use cranes to assemble the 66-foot tall replica. Lockhart said this is about 1/16th the size of the real tower in Paris.
“Obviously as women, we’re trying to inspire other girls and women who may have felt overlooked, maybe never thought about welding as a career,” she said. “This is really just a huge moment for us to show other people Latinas are a force to be reckoned with.”
Once completed, the Eiffel Tower replica will even light up at night. It’ll stand over Georgia St. and all of the fun for more than nine days. That’s the longest activation in downtown Indy since the Circle City hosted the NFL Super Bowl in 2012.
The timing of the U.S. Swim Trials gives Indy a unique opportunity, as well. A chance to host a major event in warmer weather.
“A lot of these events occur during the winter and the fall. You think about Big 10 Football, the NCAA Final Four, the NBA All-Star Game. All of those occur in the spring and fall and winter, so this is our opportunity to shine in the summer,” said Patrick Talty, the President of the Indiana Sports Corp.
After multiple inches of snow dampened the beginning of NBA All-Star Weekend, city leaders are happy to rule out that possibility for the Swim Trials.
”We probably won’t get a snowstorm,” Talty said.
The other unique aspect of the swim trials, other than the 2.5 Olympic swimming pools being built on the field inside Lucas Oil Stadium, is the duration. Nine nights of swimming with action on each night.
”Every single night of the nine nights there will be Olympians named to the team,” said Shana Ferguson, the Chief Commercial Officer with USA Swimming.
On night one on June 15, leaders expect to break a record for the largest attendance ever at a swim meet. The modified natatorium inside Lucas Oil Stadium will be able to fit 30,000 fans.
Overall, 250,000 people are expected to come to Indy over the nine days of swimming. More than 1,000 athletes will compete for 52 spots on the U.S. Olympic Swim Team.
”It’s that opportunity to come together, root for your country, root for those athletes that are going to be representing us,” Talty said.
Ferguson expects the fandom around swimming to get back to Olympic levels this summer, giving Hoosiers a chance to watch races that could be even faster than those in Paris.
”Maybe swimming isn’t a sport you pay too much attention to, but I’ll tell you what, during an Olympic year everyone is paying attention,” Ferguson said. “Swimming is the highest rating of any sport during the Olympic games. More Americans are watching swimming than any other sport.”
Fans will be able to attend prelims in the morning at Lucas Oil and the finals in the evening. Each night, more Olympians will be added to the team.
