In the codepen you attached, there is an error in the console: Error: [ngRepeat:dupes] Duplicates in a repeater are not allowed. Use 'track by' expression to specify unique keys. Repeater: venue in venueList, Duplicate key: string:Added: 0, Duplicate value: Added: 0
If you add track by $index to the ng-repeat you will see the loading will start working and the items will be added.
<ion-item ng-repeat="venue in venueList track by $index">
Are there any errors in your console for your project? This could be affecting the loading.
The load more is called on initial load without scrolling because you don’t have enough items taking up the entire height of the scroll window. If you make the height of the window smaller so that you can’t see past “Trekking”, it won’t call load more on the initial viewing. As for the loading icon, it is a known issue that the icon doesn’t show. Here are some posts on that: