STORIES OF IMPACT

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Since 2013, the Indiana State Fair Foundation has raised more than $1 million to support 4-H youth competing at the Indiana State Fair through Celebration of Champions.

In 2016, Jordan Leininger talked about her experience participating in Celebration of Champions during the Foundation’s annual Harvest Dinner fundraiser.

AGRICULTURE EDUCATION

The Indiana State Fair was created more than 160 years ago to support and promote Indiana agriculture. More than a decade ago, the Indiana State Fair Commission expanded its educational outreach beyond the annual fair by launching interactive field trip opportunities for school-aged children. Today, the program has grown into a thriving on-site field trip program that sells out quickly each year and a virtual field trip program with international reach.

On-site field trips connect with 12,000 local students annually, while virtual has continuously expanded its reach to over 30,000 students a school year. On-site brings the story of farm to table to life as students learn what goes into a pizza they will make during the time on grounds.

Virtual program offerings provide teachers with a wide variety of agriculture-focused topics, including the life cycle of corn, soybean processing, genetic modification, and the unexpected role agriculture plays in motorsport racing. One of the Fair’s signature programs, There’s A Pig In My Classroom, was developed in partnership with the LEAP Foundation and the Pig Adventure at Fair Oaks Farms to help students in grades 3–6 explore modern hog production in Indiana. What began as a statewide initiative has since expanded far beyond Indiana’s borders. In 2025, the Indiana State Fair proudly announced that its virtual agriculture education programs had reached classrooms in all 92 Indiana counties, all 50 states, and 5 U.S. territories. Programs have also connected with students on U.S. military bases in Germany, South Korea, and Japan, further extending Indiana agriculture’s impact to a global audience.

CAMPUS PRESERVATION

The Indiana State Fair Foundation was created in 2011, and its first endeavor was a $10 million Capital Campaign to support the renovation of the Corteva Coliseum. This ambitious campaign was completed in 2016 thanks to the support of hundreds of donors.

The driving force behind the Coliseum Capital Campaign was Andre B. Lacy. Mr. Lacy served as the Chairman of the Indiana State Fair Commission and was the lead donor to the campaign. In 2014, Mr. Lacy spoke about the renovation and his connection to the Coliseum.