Garrard County's Community Spirit Shines at Party on the Square August 10th

On behalf of the people of Garrard County, I would like thank all of you who joined us at the very successful Party on the Square this past Friday night. Each person’s energy added to the over-all excitement of the evening, helping to rekindle and reignite the “I Love Garrard County” spirit!

Nineteen groups, organizations, businesses and many individuals joined together to bring this party to you. … many coming up with their own ideas of something they could do for, share with, or give to the community. Each contributed to the whole… one part was not more important than another… and without any of them; the night would not have been the same…

I could give example after example of enthusiastic support, but for lack of space I would like to share with you the following:

Judge Executive John Wilson and Lancaster Mayor Don Rinthen have been fantastic in their support, right from the very beginning.

A few days before the party I went to the Christian Care Center to tell them about the party and to see if some of their patients might be able to come. When I was talking with Activities Director Melody Jones her eyes lit up and she said, “We can give away popcorn. We have a popcorn cart… we just got popcorn in today… we need to order more bags… let me check with my boss.” And guess what? On Friday night Jones showed up with her popcorn cart, set it up at the entrance to the “food court” and was so popular she said she would bring even more popcorn next time.

When Big John, with the Big John & Lil Rhonda Show (859-885-1653), heard that (his friend and M.C. for the evening) Melvin (and his wife Linda) Price’s business had burned and Price’s sound equipment with it, he called Price and arrangements were made to use Big John’s sound equipment. (Price said that several other friends also contacted him; volunteering the use of their equipment.)

One call to The Steppin’ Stones Dance Club of Harrodsburg and they were there… leading us in line dancing… and “breaking the ice” for others to just get up and dance.

At our first Party on the Square on June 1st, The Garrard County High School Band Boosters cooked hotdogs and band members served drinks. Belinda Vance, wife of band director Chris Vance, was helping to wrap hotdogs and came up with an idea. The Band Boosters could buy and give away lemonade at our next party… it was something they could afford to do… and it would be a way of saying thank you to the community for supporting the band.

And give away lemonade they did… gallons and gallons and gallons of it, in addition to ice water… all much appreciated by happy partygoers, served by band members and backed up by The Boosters. Along with serving drinks, they cooked the all-beef Ball Park franks for Farmers National Bank and pitched in with all of the clean-up…staying until everything was taken down and packed up.

Gary Sefcak, my husband of 39 years, has stood behind me all the way as we have worked together for The “I Love” Garrard County Beautification and Anti-Litter Awareness Campaign. Many have seen him out and about in his power chair taking pictures but probably don’t realize how much his years of managerial experience, generosity, heart and love for Garrard County have gone into the success of this campaign.

Our apologizes to those who didn’t get to eat… Having no idea how to plan, we bought 504 hotdogs, ice creams, etc. With such a fantastic response from the community, an estimated 800 people, we’ll know to buy more the next time The “I Love” Garrard County Beautification and Anti-Litter Awareness Campaign hosts a party on the square.

If you would like to receive e-mail notices of our future community events, send request to beautifygarrardcounty@yahoo.com.

Groups, organizations, businesses or individuals wishing to contribute in some way to the community events we are planning, please e-mail the above address.

Submitted by: Karla Sefcak, coordinator, “I Love” Garrard County Beautification and Anti-Litter Awareness Campaign.

August 10th Party on the Square

Mark your calendar for Friday, August 10th , and come to a great night of family fun and fellowship on the Lancaster Town Square. Everything is FREE…all you need to bring is yourself and a lawn chair. Time: 7:00 to 10:00 p.m.

We have a wonderful line-up of very talented singers and musicians who will be bringing us a wide variety of music including country, show tunes, contemporary, contemporary Christian, light rock, oldies, and easy listening. (The performers are enthusiastic about coming and there will be “something for everyone”…)

Enjoy performances by Rick Catching, Patton Crossfield, Laura Davis, Amy Domidion, Shelley Giacomini, Spencer Glacken, Jessica Johnson, Christa Osborne, Melvin Price, Donnie Ray, Byron Teater, and Dan Waters.

The Steppin’ Stones Dance Club from Harrodsburg will entertain us with some fancy steppin’ line dances, and then later lead simple line dances, inviting audience participation.

The Garrard County Band Boosters will be serving ice-cold lemonade. (With school just starting this will be a good opportunity to talk to a Booster and find out what they do to help our award winning 99-member high school marching band. Some band members will be there too. Ask them about this summer’s band camp and their exciting new fall program.)

Our new Farmers National Bank will be serving delicious all-beef hotdogs. (We really appreciate the bank coming to our party and this will give us a chance to give them a great big Garrard County welcome!)

What about dessert? Solid Waste Management will be serving ice cream and cookies.

The Band Boosters will also be doing face painting. And, we’ll have corn bag toss games and ladder golf.

If you have not signed up to win the one night’s stay at a Kentucky State Park Lodge of your choice to be given away at the G. C. Rural Heritage Festival at 7 p.m. on September 8th, you can do so when you pick up your ice cream. To qualify, all you have to do is make a commitment to help beautify Garrard County and support no littering. (There is only one entry per person. All those who signed up for the June 1st drawing are already entered.)

The Party on the Square is sponsored by the “I Love Garrard County” Beautification and Anti-Litter Awareness Campaign in conjunction with G.C. Solid Waste Management, G.C. Fiscal Court, City of Lancaster, Farmers National Bank, The G.C. Band Boosters, Lynco Foods, T.E.A.C.H., Poor Ridge Productions, Tudor Printing, McDonalds, First Southern National Bank, Foley & Norton, and many individual G.C. citizens.

For additional information call 792-6704.

We had a great "Party on the Square" June 1, 2007

Thank you to those of you who came to our first “Party on the Square” Friday evening, June 1st. We had a great time, didn’t we? And to the rest of you, we’re are sorry you couldn’t make it and hope you can join us next time.

What started out as a hot and humid day ended with just the perfect weather for an outdoor party.

Melvin Prices’ Karaoke program was a hit! People loved his four guest singers: Richard Horton, Roger Donahue, Donnie Ray and Sweet William, and enjoyed the great local talent too. (We thank you!)

The atmosphere was warm and friendly and it was hard to tell who was having the most fun, those “serving” or those “just relaxing” and enjoying the evening…playing games, listening to music, having their faces painted, eating a hotdog, drinking a cool beverage, or “simply” just visiting. (We gave away 360 all beef franks and 431 cold drinks and lots of desserts…everyone got all they wanted and we are pleased that all of this could be given free of charge.)

Of the 431 drinks given away, by far the favorite was Kentucky’s own Ale-8. When guests were told that the Ale-8-One Bottling Company had donated 240 drinks to our party, spontaneous applause of appreciation immediately broke out. (Thank you Ale-8!)

We would also like to thank the Wal-Mart Super Center in Stanford for their $40 gift certificate.

When we were planning for the party several people volunteered to help and we are happy to share that in addition to these wonderful folks we had others, especially members of the Garrard County Band Boosters, come along Friday night to lend a hand.

We take our hats off and give special thanks to those who helped make this night possible: Arthur, Kim and Mitchell Hollis, Belinda Vance, Angie, Amber and Josh Billingsley, Jamie and Kim Million, Jacob Toney, Dorothy DeLong, James, Leslie, Jacob and Dillon Worley, Billie and Heather Fell, Emmlee Goins, Carmen Murphy, Shari Bivalaquec, Tom Lake, Chris Thomason, Becky Hacker, Smitty Oliver, Linda Price, James Bushnell and Gary Sefcak.

To all of you who have made the commitment to help beautify Garrard County and support no littering, we say, “Thank you.”