On today's Dopest we're covering:
Newfields' Summer Nights Film Series is back — 50 years of movies under the stars
The Cathedral Women's Strawberry Festival returns to Monument Circle for its 60th year
The Nest Play Cafe in Fall Creek Place — the coffee shop parents didn't know they needed
Thanks for reading!
Via discovernewfields.org
🎬 The Dopest Event — Summer Nights Film Series at Newfields
Fifty years. That's how long Newfields has been doing this, and they haven't lost a step. The National Bank of Indianapolis Summer Nights Film Series is back this June, July, and August — classics and hidden gems, screened under the Indiana sky in the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, with a short film before each feature because they just do things right.
Doors open at 7pm. Local DJs warm up the crowd. Trivia and games happen before the film. You bring the blanket, they provide the popcorn, and together you make a memory that costs less than a streaming subscription and involves significantly more stars.
Reserved seating is available if hauling a blanket across a park sounds like too much commitment. They'll even sell you one to take home. Film start times vary with the sunset, which is honestly the most romantic scheduling policy we've ever heard of.
Pack a cooler with your favorite snacks and drinks and enjoy the most midwest evening of your life.
📍 Newfields, 4000 Michigan Rd · Doors at 7PM · June through August
The Dopest Tip: Arrive early — the best patches of grass go fast and the pre-show vibe is half the experience. Bug spray. Sunscreen. Cold drink. In that order.
Via Indy Star
🍓 The Dopest Food Event — Cathedral Women's Strawberry Festival
Sixty years. Twelve thousand pounds of strawberries. Monument Circle. Thursday, June 11th.
The Cathedral Women's Strawberry Festival is one of those Indianapolis traditions that sounds almost too wholesome to be real — and yet here it is, six decades strong, serving up shortcake piled with vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries, and whipped topping for $10 a pop. Lines open at 9am and close at 4pm, or when the strawberries run out. They will run out. This is not a threat, it's a promise.
The best part? Ninety-five percent of proceeds go directly to grants supporting local organizations working with women, children, and underserved communities. So every shortcake is basically an act of civic virtue. Overeating is philanthropy. Sign me up.
📍 Monument Circle · Thursday, June 11 · 9AM–4PM (or until sold out)
The Dopest Tip: If you're feeding a crowd, pre-order 10 or more online. If you can't make it downtown, you can still donate and put "Strawberry Festival" in the notes — 95% goes straight to good work in this city.
☕ The Dopest Kid Coffee Shop — The Nest Play Cafe
Someone finally did it. Someone looked at the chaos of taking a small child anywhere in public, then looked at the concept of a coffee shop, and thought: what if we combined these things in a way that didn't make everyone miserable? Enter The Nest Play Cafe — Indy's first and only play cafe, tucked into Fall Creek Place near the Mass Ave Cultural District.
The concept is simple: Montessori-inspired play space for the kids, espresso and treats for the adults, and enough breathing room for caregivers to actually finish a sentence. Or an email. Or a thought. Revolutionary stuff.
Beyond open play, The Nest hosts kids' yoga, infant and preschool music classes, birthday parties, baby showers, and a small but mighty retail section stocked with locally made toys and new parent gift baskets.
Pricing is refreshingly reasonable: $15 for kids 1 and up (90 min session), $5 for babies 3–12 months, and babies under 3 months get in free because they don't know where they are anyway. Siblings are $10 each. Or grab a $25 daily pass — leave, grab lunch, come back. The kids will never know you left.
📍 Fall Creek Place, near Downtown & Mass Ave · nestplaycafe.com
The Dopest Tip: The daily pass at $25 is the move if you're planning a full morning out. Book your session in advance online — spots fill up and showing up without a reservation with a toddler in tow is a gamble nobody needs to take.
The Dopest This Week:
The Doors Tribute: HiFi Annex | Friday June 6 | 7pm
Cool Creek Park Concert Series: Cool Creek Park, Carmel | Friday June 6 | 7pm
Monster Truck Throwdown: Anderson Speedway | Friday June 6 | 7pm
Eliza Schlesinger: Butler | Saturday June 7 | 9pm
Woodruff Place Flea Market: Indy’s Near Eastside | June 7 + 8 | 10am
Indy is always up to something. So are we.
See you next week! — Indy's Dopest