Lancaster cleans up, celebrates with Party on Square

By Ben Kleppinger
bkleppinger@amnews.com June 19, 2010

LANCASTER — More than 1,000 people showed up in downtown Lancaster Friday evening for the fourth year of the anti-litter Party on the Square.

Throughout the evening, people enjoyed live music and free food, kids played in a bouncy castle and blew bubbles, and everyone did their best to recycle and keep the square clean.

The Party on the Square is the culminating event of Garrard County’s annual six-week anti-litter beautification campaign. Party organizer Karla Sefcak said this is the second year the party has been big enough to fill all four quadrants of the Public Square.

Some of the biggest additions to the party this year included a live performance from Owenton-based bluegrass band Kentucky Wild Horse and the Party on the Square Art Show. Sefcak said in coming years, she’s hopeful the art aspect of the party can expand and fill an entire quadrant of the square on its own.

As part of the party’s growing art trend, Arts Council CO-president Kristin Long was on hand, helping people paint a large, paint-by-number drawing of what the old Lancaster Grand Theater will look like when renovations are complete.

Garrard/Lincoln Solid Waste Coordinator Chris Thomason said he’s hopeful Garrard’s party model can be replicated in Lincoln County. A Party-on-the-Square style event in Stanford could be very successful, if the right group of dedicated people can be found to lead and organize it, he said.

“One person can’t do this,” he said. “You’ve got to have ... a group of people to get it off the ground.”

For an event as large as the Party on the Square, it takes at least six months of planning, Thomason said. Still, he said he’s hopeful an event could be held in Stanford next year.

Copyright: AMNews.com 2010