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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowCongratulations to the 22 talented young women who will be in Indianapolis this weekend to play in the WNBA All-Star Game and dozens more players who will take part in the All-Star Skills Challenge, 3-Point contest, legends game and other events.
Welcome to Indianapolis!
We are also excited to welcome thousands of fans who have come from across the country to see some of the best basketball players in the world compete at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
We hope you saw from the moment you got off the plane at Indianapolis International Airport how much we love basketball in Indiana. The court in the airport terminal’s plaza was developed and installed by Miles Printing, a woman-owned company that also created décor for the NBA All-Star Game when it was in Indianapolis last year.
And you’ll see our embrace of the sport again and again—in the murals around the city created largely by local, female artists; in the “Girls Get in the Game” video featuring WNBA legend Tamika Catchings; and in the All-Star Community Bounce that will bring 2,500 kids into downtown for a free dribble that will end at Monument Circle.
But WNBA All-Star Weekend is about more than basketball for our city. It’s part of our continuing quest to be the best big-event city in the world and a destination for organizations and companies that want to host the most impactful meetings and events in the country.
We think you’ll see that effort in the hundreds of volunteers who will help ensure that you find your way to events, that those events happen smoothly and that you are treated to the Hoosier Hospitality that Indiana is known for. You can read about some of those volunteers—and their excitement for making Indianapolis great—in our Focus section starting on page 15A.
You’ll find our passion in both the official and unofficial events taking place throughout the weekend, including the All-Star Shoot for the Stars program at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, where Catchings will join in a celebration of women in sports and space. Check out The Glow Up Lounge event on Monument Circle that is organized by the Indianapolis-based Chreece Hip-Hop Festival. And if you don’t have game tickets (or even if you do), stop by the GangGang All-Star Pregame + Watch Party at The AMP at 16 Tech.
Read about more events and see a map of activations on page 20A.
And know that even before you arrived, Indianapolis was busy making sure this weekend leaves an impact.
Hundreds of Indiana women last weekend donated breast tissue for research to the Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the Indiana University Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. And the event’s host committee has already invested $1 million in brick-and-mortar projects and a youth leadership initiative meant to promote women in sports. You can read about those on page 17A.
We hope you enjoy the WNBA All-Star Weekend and then come back to Indianapolis another time so you can see what else we have to offer.•
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