Final preparations underway for IPL 500 Festival Parade

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The countdown is on for a staple during race weekend: the IPL 500 Festival Parade.

Around 300,000 people will be downtown to watch it Saturday morning. Beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, roads will begin closing downtown as preparations ramp up. Many floats were ready to roll Wednesday night.

“It is sort of like the coming-out party and the welcoming party for something yet even more exciting that is going to occur the next day,” said Bob Bryant, president and CEO of the 500 Festival.

The 500 Festival Parade has been in Indianapolis since 1957, and organizers say each year is better than the last.

“How can we be bigger? How can we be better? What can we showcase? What stories can we help tell?” said Bryant about the planning process.

This year’s theme is “Illuminate. Innovate. Indianapolis.” 

“It is a lot of fun. It is a lot of family. It is a lot of excitement and just lots of things to see and do and cheer on, and really even pay your respects from a Memorial Day weekend standpoint,” Bryant said.