INDIANAPOLIS — While Indianapolis always sees a surge in visitors in May, this month, there will be thousands more.
Starting Saturday afternoon, downtown will be packed with people watching the AES Indiana 500 Festival Parade. Then hours later, basketball fans will flood Gainbridge Fieldhouse for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics.
Then Sunday, hundreds of thousands will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy 500. But the weekend's not over yet, when basketball fans will be back for Game 4 Monday.
"Memorial Day, historically, is always a sell-out weekend for Indianapolis, and when you add on two Pacer playoff games, the calendar couldn't get any better," said Clare Clark, senior communications manager for Visit Indy.
According to Visit Indy, over 80,000 people came to the city for Memorial Day weekend last year, and they expect many more this year. Even with more people, there's places for them to stay, as some hotels downtown still have available rooms.
Visit Indy says after every big event hosted this year, the city will see over $5.8 billion in economic impact.
"When you add a packed Memorial Day weekend with the Pacers and the motor speedway, we just know the city is going to be bumping, its going to be lively and they are going to be excited to experience Indianapolis," Clark said.
Many people arrived at the Indianapolis International Airport on Friday. For the Votavas and Zuschlags, touching down in Indy starts their weekend of tradition.
"I said, 'Hey guys, you want to go to the race with us this year?' and they were like, 'Yeah.' That was in 2005, that was our first race together, and we've been coming here ever since," Kimberly Votava said.
While they've moved thousands of miles away from each other, the race keeps them together.
"It's like 'Back Home Again in Indiana,' as Jim Nabors would say," Matthew Zuschlags said.
After 20 years of tradition, both families say this year will bring them many more new memories.