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Circle City Cloggers becomes staple of Mini-Marathon entertainers

After years of dedicated entertainment, the Circle City Cloggers have become a fixture on the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon course.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Circle City Cloggers, a local dance group, is back for another year of entertainment during the 2022 OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon

The group was one of the first entertainers the 13.1-miler ever had.

"You can't pay me to exercise, but I will dance as many times a week as I get a chance," clogger Gail Mikesell said.

The Circle City Cloggers has dancers from 18 years old to over 80 years old.

"We have this form that the cloggers fill out," said Sara Adams, program and event director with the 500 Festival. "We ask them, 'How long have you participated?' And it just says, 'always.' They've been doing it for decades for us, over 20 years." 

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After years of dedicated entertainment, the cloggers have become a fixture on the course.

"We just have a good time with them," Mikesell said. "They'll run up and dance with us a little bit and then keep going. We just have a good time, and we play the music that energizes them as they're coming around."

Mini Marathon Pictures...from the archives!

Posted by Circle City Cloggers on Tuesday, April 19, 2022

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"A lot of them are the same runners, and we're the same cloggers for all these years," clogger Dianna Harris said. "Their faces light up when they come past us because they see us and they recognize us."

"They're always a group that participants say is extra motivating," Adams said. "They've become part of the fanfare of course entertainment year after year." 

The OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon will be held Saturday, May 7, with live coverage on 13Sunrise from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.

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