Always the Friday before Thanksgiving, this music festival brings Indianapolis bands and musicians together for a night that comprises five stages and unforgettable icons.
Tonic Ball, hosted in Fountain Square, directly supports Second Helpings — a nonprofit dedicated to fighting hunger in Central Indiana. Ticket sales help support more than 100 Central Indiana nonprofits that receive free meals from Second Helpings throughout the year, according to Tonic Ball’s website. Marketing and Communications Manager at Second Helpings Emily Martin said the festival was founded in 2002 by a few Indianapolis locals. One of those individuals is Ken Honeywell, a volunteer at Second Helpings and supporter of education through the Ken Honeywell Continuing Education Fund.
Back when it began, the Tonic Ball featured bands covering one icon in one venue. Now, Martin said, the festival has grown over the decades.
“Now we’re covering four artists every year in five venues,” Martin said. “… There’s been a really unique partnership between individuals who love music, Second Helpings, the Fountain Square neighborhood and all of the great venues there. I don’t know of any other event like it.”
Martin said planning an event of this magnitude is largely a group effort. For this year’s ball and others, she said the primary goal is for tickets to sell out, as those ticket sales are what directly and positively impact Second Helpings’ work. In terms of the timing of the ball, being right before the Thanksgiving holiday, Martin said it is a natural time to fight against food insecurity, as it worsens in winter months and the holiday season.
“The time around Thanksgiving into December is certainly a time when giving and giving around food insecurity is really top of mind for people,” Martin said. “It is kind of a natural time of year for supporting an organization like Second Helpings.”
Although the holiday season is the busiest time of year for many nonprofits fighting food insecurity across the nation, including Second Helpings, Martin said hunger persists 365 days a year.
“Groups reaching out to do food drives has really increased just in the last couple weeks, but that’s not as common in the spring and summer,” Martin said.
Martin joined the Second Helpings team in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing that year’s Tonic Ball to take on a different, more creative form. For those organizing the event, canceling the ball was simply not something that was discussed, and Martin said it was a special, inspiring day that helped encapsulate the spirit of the Tonic Ball. However, her first in-person experience attending the festival is one that is important to her.
“When I’m thinking of Tonic Ball memories, my first thought was my first. It took working here for two or three years before I experienced a normal Tonic Ball,
if that makes sense,” Martin said. “So it was really exciting in 2022 to get to help in planning the in person event, and then being there in Fountain Square and seeing, ‘Oh, this is what everybody was talking about like this is the magic that this event has.’ The live streams are really incredible and creative and successful, but, you know, it’s not the same.”
This year, the Tonic Ball takes place Nov. 22 and will cover Lady Gaga at Hi-Fi, Hall & Oates at Square Cat Vinyl, Parliament-Funkadelic at White Rabbit, The White Stripes/JackWite at Radio Radio and The Greatest Hits at the Fountain Square Theatre, per its website. Tickets are $75 a piece and grant access to all five venues. Those interested in attending can find ticket sales here.
