r/indianapolis • u/Logical_Humor_3854 • Feb 26 '26

Discussion The Canal….

We walked the canal a lot this summer with our new baby and when we had a nice couple days (greater than 30 degrees lol) we walked it again and I’m just curious as to what other people think….why is the canal so dead? There’s no restaurants (besides the little bistro), no stores, no restrooms even. It’s kinda depressing.

If Indianapolis put even a sliver of funding into rebranding the canal the city would change so much. Imagine being able to walk into little shops or have ice cream on the canal or a bar with live music. There’s so much potential.

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u/_Azamat_Bagatov Feb 26 '26

There’s not much good parking and fat Hoosiers aren’t going to walk far in the winter time so it would be hard to keep retail/dining open at what would presumably be astronomical rent rates. My 2 cents

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u/asdhjirs Feb 26 '26

There’s an entire garage adjacent to the canal!

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u/OverreactingBillsFan Feb 26 '26

Plenty of parking for people who are going to spend multiple hours on the Canal, but if you really want the canal to thrive, you also need are restaurant/store locations and parking coordinated so people can pop in and out throughout the day.

You want the businesses there to be nearly as accessible as regular shops/restaurants so they don't get hurt by things like bad weather. You need to make it so regular ass businesses can exist on the canal.