When the 70th Lucas Oil 500 Festival Parade steps off at noon on Saturday in downtown Indianapolis, Linden resident Mark Eutsler will be celebrating the 30th year he has co-chaired the nation’s third largest parade. It will also be his 47th parade to attend and 34th as a volunteer.
“That it’s 30 years and that I even had an opportunity to be involved is surrealistic,” said Eutsler who, with Therese, his wife, have been 500 Festival volunteers for 39 years. He’s started attending the parade in 1980, the year he graduated from Indiana State University with a degree in music education.
After their 1987 marriage, the couple volunteered for other 500 Festival events and attended the parade.
“One year,” Eutsler recalled, “Therese said, ‘I’d like to volunteer for the parade.’” So, they attended a call-out for volunteers held at Indianapolis Colts Owner Bob Iray’s and Nancy Irsay’s, his spouse and a 500 Festival Board Member, estate in Carmel.
A former McCutcheon High School (Tippecanoe School Corporation) director of bands (and before that band and choir director at Frontier School Corporation in White County), Eutsler was drawn to the parade’s Band Committee. After four years, he was offered the co-chair position.
Among his favorite memories are the Holland (Michigan) Marching Band, which wear wooden shoes. “The sound on the pavement was distinctive, then silent when marching across the checkered carpet,” he remembered. “A block of Pennsylvania Street was carpeted curb-to-curb,” he recalled. Now, the checkered carpet is on two lanes of the street with the middle painted black.
“Equine units would perceive the black checks as holes and not want to proceed — even though carpet was shipped to the units to practice, the horses were never comfortable,” he said.
Another favorite is a marching band from Texas.
“A dozen members of the band were also members of the high school orchestra and performed at the school’s commencement on Friday evening,” he said. “They hopped on a flight to Indy on Saturday morning, were met by two vans at the airport, and transported to the marshaling area in time to perform in the nationally televised parade.”
Eutsler has researched and compiled a list of all bands that have appeared in the parade.
“Bands from 43 states (including Hawaii) and three countries have appeared,” he said. “In the early 1960s the Michigan City Prison Band made two appearances. The stats are amazing. Since I’ve been co-chair 510 bands, transported in 2,000 buses, with 51,000 students have appeared marching a pretty astonishing 275,400,000 steps. The parade band program has made a $32,640,000 economic impact on the Indy and central Indiana economy, too.”
With primary responsibility for the hosting and escorting of the marching bands, Eutsler noted that the parade is one of the band-friendliest in the country.
“We have awesome recruiting, communications, and arrangements for bands,” he said. “Paige’s Music is on board to take care of minor instrument issues that occur from time to time.”
The parade takes place regardless of precipitation or temperature and is locally televised live as well streaming and recorded telecasts. Some of the behind the scenes components include medical first aide and triage stations, wreckers at intersections in case of a float break down, public address announcers in every block for the guests who purchase seat tickets, TV zone rehearsals for opening productions, two-way radios, golf carts, Indy 500 driver logistics, lots of public safety agency coordination for security and, most importantly, thousands of volunteers.
In the music realm, Eutsler has facilitated music classes at Indiana Wesleyan University and, for his 500 Festival and other community service contributions, was named an Honorary Member of the Indianapolis 500 Gordon Pipers, initiated as a member of the Tau Beta Sigma Beta Sigma chapter at Purdue University, and a Distinguished Member Friend of the Arts Sigma Alpha Iota Iota Eta chapter and Kappa Kappa Psi Lambda Lambda chapter at Indiana State University.
“I owe so much to Indiana State University as an area music education alumnus,” Eutsler said. “It’s fun building relationships and keeping in touch with directors throughout the country and traveling to see and hear bands.”
Eutsler has adjudicated Indiana School Music Association solo/ensemble and organization festivals since 1985 and has adjudicated low brass auditions for the Indiana Bandmasters Association All-State and All-Star Bands, as well as the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis Prelude Awards. He has been a presenter during Lincoln Center Institute’s Aesthetic Education Ongoing Inquiry at the Juilliard School.
Eutsler’s other Indy 500 involvements includes member of the Citizens’ Speedway Committee — a group of 33 civic leaders that, since 1920, had promoted the Lap Prize Sponsorship program, International Association of Indianapolis 500 Oldtimers, and IndyCar Ministry past board member. He is also co-founder of the Indiana Racing Memorial Association and the American Racing Memorial Association. This year will also be his 62nd 500 Mile Race to attend.
What does he do after the parade? Planning for the 71st parade begins Wednesday after this year’s event.
