BY HANNAH GUNNELL
For Johnson County’s official destination management organization Festival Country, 2024 had two parts.
The first quarter of the year saw Executive Director Ken Kosky and his team preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse.
“We attracted 100,000 visitors and had substantial economic impact,” he said. “Everybody that arrived seemed to have a good time and there were no complaints of parking or traffic issues. We were really pleased with that.”
Johnson County had 50 viewing locations of which Festival Country assisted. The organization gave out free eclipse glasses to places that opened their parking lots to the public. They also looked at spreading out incoming visitors across the county and finding ways to keep those people in the county so they didn’t all leave at once and cause traffic congestion.
“I think with doing all that we got just the right amount of visitors,” Kosky said.
When that was over, Festival Country turned its attention toward two new events: First Fridays in Franklin and Final Fridays in Greenwood. The introduction of these monthly events came at the advice of a consultant, Kosky said.
“We had a consultant named Roger Brooks who has helped 2500 destinations become the best versions of themselves, and one of his specialties is helping to transform downtowns,” Kosky said. “So three things he wanted us to accomplish were staying open late, programming days and beautification, so the First Fridays and Final Fridays checked three of those boxes.”
The organization donated $15,000 to each community to hold these events year round.
Another major accomplishment included finishing the Kuji Alley in Franklin, which honors the partnership between the town and its sister city in Japan. This included updating a mural and installing a Japanese bridge.
“What we found in the emphasis behind the alley projects is if you can get something that people want to get their photo taken with, they’ll post it on social media and then their friends will want to come, and it’ll add exponentially to visitors wanting to come downtown,” Kosky said.
As the official destination management organization of Johnson County, Festival Country markets the county to visitors and residents through supporting various projects and events. Among the big accomplishments of 2024 listed above, the organization also donated $2,500 to a first responders monument at Proctor Park in New Whiteland, and sponsored a concert series in Bargersville.
Looking forward to 2025, the organization is hoping to have a permanent ice skating rink in the county.
“In 2023, we brought a temporary ice rink to Franklin, and it was the first time we had skating,” Kosky said. “In 2024, Edinburgh wanted to try it, so we brought it to Edinburgh. They had it there during their holiday festival. Our ultimate goal was to prove it was popular so one of our communities will have a permanent ice skating rink.”
Kosky said Greenwood is the front runner to open a rink, but everything is still in the planning stages.
Other goals include installing a new exhibit commemorating America’s 250th birthday in the organization’s Visitor’s Center, 66 S. Water Street in Franklin; and improving the alley next to the Artcraft Theater in Franklin.
“We were instrumental in getting 200 overhead stars put in the alley next to the artcraft theater, and that was for Johnson County’s bicentennial a few years ago,” Kosky said. “The stars, having been up several years ago, need replacing and we’re working on a concept for something else to put in that alley as an overhead photo opportunity.”
Kosky also highlighted that Festival Country would like to place a free game center for the public in different downtowns throughout the county, and launch additional festivals.
“There’s a company that makes concrete versions of cornhole that you can leave out year round, so we’d like to add some game areas to the downtowns,” he said. “As far as festivals, we’re still working on hopefully launching some additional festivals in 2025. Our goal is to find ones that don’t currently exist, some new concept or thing, or taking an existing concept and making it substantially better.”