1. Education: Empowering Action
In 2023 and 2024, we partnered with the Friends of the White River to bring local stakeholders out onto the water to experience the White River firsthand. Their River School program teaches participants how to paddle, while also deepening their understanding of our river’s unique ecosystem and importance to our communities.
In 2025, we organized three workshops for our tourism partners to learn more about sustainability topics such as conservation, water management, energy efficiency and waste reduction.
Many groups come to Hamilton County for meetings and conferences, so we have developed resources to empower meeting planners to join us in our stewardship efforts. Planners can explore ways to give back while they’re in our county via the Give Back While You Gather Guide. As planners are designing their events, we encourage them to explore the Indianapolis Event Waste Guide, which was created in 2024 through a collaboration of regional tourism partners. The guide includes best practices for reducing waste at events and a directory of regional resources to help planners execute their sustainability goals. By connecting visiting groups to local organizations, we enable them to contribute to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of our community.
2. White River Vision Plan: Revitalizing Our Watershed
Hamilton County is located in the White River watershed, so the White River is essential to our health and prosperity. It’s our main source of water for everyday activities in our homes (like drinking, cooking, and brushing our teeth) and for commerce. Sadly, the greater Indianapolis region has a long history of turning our backs to the river, polluting it and building xyz right up to its banks. However, in 2018 Hamilton County Tourism and other groups in the region worked together to create a new vision for the river, one that honors its essential place in our society. After collecting feedback from more than 13,000 voices in the region, the White River Vision Plan was created in 2020. The White River Vision Plan is a community-driven plan in Hamilton County and Indianapolis that explores the enormous potential of our river to enhance regional vibrancy, ecological integrity, livability and economic vitality.
As part of our ongoing support of the White River, HCT collaborates with Visit Indy to maintain the Discover White River website as a hub of information about the White Riverway: the collection of parks, trails, cultural attractions, activities, and villages along the 58 miles of the White River in Hamilton and Marion counties.
Through Discover White River, we lift up the beautiful places along the river and the passionate people who preserve it. Our digital presence enables people to discover the many recreation opportunities with our partners on the river, thus stimulating the economy while also working to support equitable access and environmental stewardship.
We believe that folks who engage with the river - either through social media or in person, will grow to love it and become river advocates themselves. Even over the course of just a few short years, we can already see that our digital storytelling efforts are paying off! A sentiment study in 2023 revealed a 10% increase in the number of residents viewing the river as an asset in Ham Co and 11% increase in Marion Co, as compared to 2021.
In 2024, the White River Vision Plan Technical Committee was created within the Central Indiana Regional Development Authority (CIRDA). The Technical Committee serves an advisory role to the Regional Development Authority with the primary mission to promote region-wide implementation of the White River Vision Plan. Hamilton County Tourism serves on the Technical Committee alongside 14 other government and nonprofit members: City of Anderson, Town of Bargersville, City of Carmel, City of Fishers, City of Indianapolis, City of Martinsville, City of Noblesville, Hamilton County, Marion County, White River State Park Development Commission, Citizens Energy Group, Friends of the White River, White River Alliance, and Visit Indy.
3. Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District Partnership
What better partner could we find in sustainability than the Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD)? Their team improves and sustains our natural resources by providing residents and businesses with education and technical and financial assistance for conservation.
We have been particularly impressed by the resources that they offer to help residents remove invasive plant species and replace them with plants that are native to our region. Invasive species destroy local habitats that are critical for the health of our soil, water and air, while native species of plants support a balanced and healthy ecosystem in our county.
Shockingly, 83% of invasive plants that are harming Indiana’s green spaces come from our own home landscapes, so residents and businesses can make a huge difference by removing invasives from their properties.
Throughout 2024 and 2025, we supported SWCD’s marketing and storytelling efforts to help get the word out to residents about all of their programs, including funding a mural in Noblesville by local artist Abigail Staffelbach. Our combined efforts resulted in two back-to-back record-breaking years for SWCD’s invasive for native trade-in program and native plant sale.
4. Supporting our Partners: Grants and Innovation
Since 2006 our Tourism Gives Support Program has provided grants to tourism-related county-based organizations such as those that provide experiences in the arts, special events, festivals and history. One of the focuses of this grant is environmental stewardship, so that we can financially support our partners in their efforts to protect our planet. For example, our funding helped Carmel Christkindlmarkt to provide recycling at the festival in 2023 and 2024.
Another way that we reduce waste from events is by collecting and upcycling vinyl and mesh banners from our partners. Since 2022, HCT has collected hundreds of vinyl and mesh banners from our partners and transported them to People for Urban Progress (PUP). PUP then cleans and upcycles the banners into a variety of functional goods, including bags and keychains. HCT has used the upcycled products as gifts or donated them to non-profit organizations like Fishers Parks, Hamilton County Parks, Noblesville Creates, Nickel Plate Express and Noble Made to sell them to raise funds to support their work.
5. Beautification and Conservation
In 2025, Hamilton County Tourism deepened its commitment to destination stewardship through beautification and conservation projects at two of our most-visited venues. Our goal was twofold: to create places that are pleasant for people and beneficial for nature.
At Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, we partnered with landscape designer Andrew Marrs to create a welcoming garden filled with native plants that feed pollinators —nature’s essential workers and the backbone of a healthy environment. Next time you’re heading to your seat at a concert, pause to enjoy the colorful blooms and butterflies that now make Ruoff their home.
Meanwhile, at the Droplight Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, we facilitated a tree-planting effort that has resulted in 156 new trees on campus in 2025. With our support, Westfield Green Together planted 130 native trees on the campus near the soccer fields. On the baseball side of the campus, we funded the installation of another 26 native trees.
These trees provide shade and wind protection, create habitat for birds and insects, and help manage stormwater by slowing rain runoff and allowing it to replenish the soil. Next time you’re cheering on your team, keep an eye out for these new trees. They may be small now, but we’re excited to watch them grow alongside the families that visit Grand Park. Together, these projects reflect our belief that vibrant places for people and thriving spaces for nature can—and should—grow side by side.
