Indy Fit Expo (Indianapolis Sport & Fitness Expo)

We’re continuing to explore trade shows and exhibitions, which once promised to grow and be a force in their local markets only to then disappear never to be heard from again. The expo we’ve in mind is aimed at the fitness sector, which in the past decade has managed to expand beyond the wildest imagination. The expo we’ve chosen is the Indy Fit Expo (shortened from the Indianapolis Sport & Fitness Expo), which has been a well-liked and popular event as recently as 2016 – the last time an edition was held. It’s puzzling to say the least, since it was only growing bigger.

Indy Fit Expo was an annual event and editions took place in the first week of October split over two days in the weekend. The last edition was scheduled to run from 10:00 am in the morning until 17:00 pm in the afternoon on the first day and until 16:00 pm on the second. The expo was dubbed as “The Largest Multi-Sport & Fitness Expo in Indiana”, which certainly fit the bill given that the official organisers recorded that the size of the expo grew by 42% with 106 additional booths in 2015 after a very successful run in 2014.

This was in no small part due to the affordability of ticket admission. Most people could pay $10 and enter the converted show floor of the Indiana State Fairgrounds - Expo Hall to take a look, and children under the age of 5 had free admission. This branded Indy Fit Expo as a fun activity for the whole family. Beemer Enterprises LLC served as the official organiser of the event and it was staged in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Date on attendance is somewhat unreliable. At its height, Indy Fit Expo featured about 350 exhibitors and its audience extended to 15,000 visitors from all walks of life and level of fitness.

As organisers themselves revealed, in attendance you could find elite athletes, fitness enthusiasts, weightlifters, runners and sport fanatics. This is not surprising since during those two days, there were over 20 different athletic tournaments, competitions and contests. One of the biggest we want to mention here are the Midwest RX showcase (CrossFit competition), Liftlab (weightlifting competitions), Indy’s Best – arms, glutes, abs (bodybuilding competitions) and the very popular fencing tournament from the Indianapolis fencing club. This is in addition to the heavily visited Fitness Zone, which held free fitness classes.

Visitors could engage with any type of sport the on the grounds be it Zumba, kickboxing, HIIT or yoga, Pilates or even krav maga. There are free demonstrations for everyone to attend and learn a few new exercises and moves, and learn where they can go and train. Women could also sign up for a self-defense class. If you worried about coming with children, then you could easily leave them at the Kids Zone. If they happened to be athletic, then why not sign them up for the Youth Combine to compete for some excellent prizes.

Although the competitive spirit hung in the air, it should be mentioned that Indy Fit Expo was also a place to shop and a place to learn about one’s body. Visitors could attend health and nutrition seminars to gain a better understanding of their dietary needs, whether they looked for weight loss in general, perfecting their beach body or training for a specific athletic goal. Indy Fit Expo gave visitors access to top notch sports medicine and rehabilitation as well as strength conditioning.

But we also can’t not mention the great business for sports companies. The expo had many, many sponsors – Ford, Allmax Nutrition, Core Power, KT Tape, Symbolic Muscle, RAD, NEBIA, Complete Nutrition, RxBar, PIN performance, GLC 2000, MAW nutrition, Health Mate, FitQuest, pushing weight, D’s naturals, bnshape and Reaction. This meant that visitors had access to just about any product group within the fitness and wellness sector. You could just as easily find top grade sports apparel at discounts as you could get nutrition and sport supplements and strength and fitness equipment. Paired up with excellent prize giveaways and door prices, Indy Fit Expo seemed to have a very bright future – one that sadly didn’t materialize.