Life In Marion, Indiana

Down­town, Mar­i­on is where you’ll find the com­mu­ni­ty’s art hub, which hous­es a full array of art stu­dios for dance, fine arts, and much more. There are record­ing stu­dios, art gal­leries (some with­in small busi­ness­es), music les­son cen­ters, music gear & repair shops, graph­ic design & pho­tog­ra­phy busi­ness­es, and a pub­lic library & muse­um which hous­es a pletho­ra of resources to quench one’s inter­est in the arts. Fash­ion as well as home design & dec­o­rat­ing are all art, too! Mar­i­on has fash­ion bou­tiques and home décor & gift shops locat­ed downtown.

Did you know that Mar­i­on, Indi­ana is the ​“Home of the Hog”? No, not the farm animal…“Hog” is also a nick­name for large motor­cy­cles. Each year, Mar­i­on hosts Hog Daze which takes place Down­town, Mar­i­on, wel­com­ing bike enthu­si­asts from all over the coun­try. Find out why the term ​“hog” orig­i­nat­ed in Mar­i­on, Indi­ana and learn more about the event.

Speak­ing of vehi­cles, there are also two boom­ing events which take place at our pres­ti­gious region­al air­port. One is the long­stand­ing Fly/​In Cruise/​In which brings in vis­i­tors from far and wide to see his­tor­i­cal air­craft and auto­mo­biles. More recent­ly, a new fla­vor of car enthu­si­asm is ignit­ing as Mar­i­on, Indi­ana also hosts the Indy Airstrip Attack fea­tur­ing high speed rac­ing down the airport’s run­way. A world record was set in 2017, then in 2018 for the fastest half-mile at near­ly 260 miles per hour.

Switch­ing gears, Mar­i­on is just a few miles south of the his­tor­i­cal Bat­tle of the Mis­sissinewa, the first offen­sive vic­to­ry of the Amer­i­can army dur­ing the War of 1812. Bus­loads of thou­sands trav­el to Mar­i­on dur­ing the ​“Mis­sissinewa 1812” reen­act­ment week­end which takes place each fall on the very grounds the bat­tle took place over 200 years ago.

Mar­i­on also hous­es the inter­na­tion­al Quil­ters Hall of Fame, the home of quilt design­er Marie Web­ster, one of the first female entre­pre­neurs. Quil­ters and enthu­si­asts from all of the world gath­er here to see unique quilts, take class­es, and cel­e­brate the folk art of quilting.

If you’re a fan of the Garfield com­ic, Mar­i­on fea­tures three of the dozen unique Garfield stat­ues which are spread through­out the coun­ty along the Grant Coun­ty Garfield Trail.

And dare we for­get to share that Mar­i­on, Indi­ana is the birth­place of the leg­endary Hol­ly­wood icon, James Dean. You might vis­it the James Dean Birth Site Memo­r­i­al down­town at 4th and McClure Street on your way to or from the mul­ti­tude of attrac­tions in his home­town of Fair­mount, located 15 minutes south of Marion.