Livermore plans big party to celebrate 175th anniversary | Community Spirit

Livermore's 175th Anniversary celebration "DemiSemiSeptCentennial" will be held Wednesday through Saturday, July 4 through July 7. There are different attractions each day for the four-day celebration, a little something to appeal to everyone. The City is expecting former residents as well as those from the surrounding area to come and enjoy the festivities. There will be commemorative items available to help remember this special event.

The Woman's Club is selling tee-shirts and caps for $10 each, which are available for viewing and purchase at First Security Bank. There is a Livermore Memorial book available for purchase at First Security Bank, Independence Bank, Thacker Riverside Dental, Neighborhood Flowers and Livermore City Hall. (All of these businesses are located in Livermore.) This is a soft-sided 20-page book, 9 1/2'' by 8'', featuring 45 reproductions of prints and antique photographs as well as a running commentary of Livermore's history, and will be sold for $20 each.

The post office is involved in helping celebrate this anniversary as well. Daniel Gilliam advises that there will be two memorial post cards available for sale at the post office at a cost of 56 cents each, which includes the price of the stamp. One post card will feature a photo of the river from the past, and the other card will have a river picture of the present. Additionally, there will be a special post mark available on July 5th, 6th, and 7th.Some may want to take envelopes to the post office and have them stamped with this special mark. The first five of these special marks are free, and there is a chargeof 5 cents for each additional mark.

Here is a list of planned events for the 4-day celebration:

Wednesday, July 4th -The Lions Club will have available for sale their outstanding pork burgers, hamburgers, and hot dogs. At the City Building at 7:00 pm, there will be a selection of music sung by several of Livermore's church choirs and a short devotional message by Ron Dame, followed by cake to be served at the riverfront picnic shelter (pavilion). Then, at dusk, courtesy of Independence Bank, there will be a fireworks display at the riverfront.

Thursday, July 5th -The Lions Club will be set up behind the Kidd Building on Hill St. once again, around 4 p.m., selling their pork burgers, hamburgers, and hot dogs. Also next to the Kidd Building, our City's stage will be set up and at 5:0 pm there will be two second-graders on stage reading their winning essays telling the reasons why they like Livermore. Beginning at 6:00pm, Ray Wilkerson& Friends AND Bud Nickells & the Island Station Dancers will perform until 9:00 pm. Also during this time period, there will be a lantern stroll around the square of anyone in period dress (1800's) as well as horse and carriage rides. The city hopes that in spite of the usual July heat, a lot of people will dress in period costume to add to the interest and ''feel'' of the way things were long ago. Additionally, a tour of the city's landmarks will be offered via golf cart transportation.

Friday & Saturday, July 6th & July 7th - There will be a quilt show held at the McLean County Public Library, and surrounding that area, there will be arts and crafts vendors* displaying and/or selling their wares.

*Arts and crafts vendors are welcome to display their wares for no charge or if they would like to sell their goods, there is a $20 fee for the first day and $10 for the second day. Location will be on ''Heritage Lane'' (Second St. near the McLean County Public Library) for Friday& Saturday, July 6th & 7th. Please contact Stella Gross at 278-2244 or Andrea Shelton at Livermore City Hall at 278-2113 if you would like to have an Arts & Crafts booth on "Heritage Lane".

Friday, July 6th – The Lions Club food booth will again be available for attendees of the celebration. 5:00 pm is the kick-off time for several events. There will be a ''Cruise-in'' held from 5 to 9 pm. Zack Ashby will be performing from 5to 6 pm and a street dance will be held from 5 to 10 pm. Then at 6 pm, the Blackford Creek Band will be performing until 10 p.m. Also, starting at 5 pm., there will be a carnival held behind City Hall, which will continue until 10 pm. They will have ''carnival food'' offerings available for sale.

Saturday, July 7th - The Boy Scouts will be hosting a pancake breakfast at the city building from 8 to 10 am. ''Heritage Lane'', located on Second St. in front of the McLean County Public Library, will again be hosting arts and crafts vendors opening at 9 am. The quilt show will open at the library at 10am. Also, at 10 am, Poole's Pharmacy Care will be sponsoring the ''Ducks on the Green'' race. The public can purchase a plastic duck at Poole's in Livermore for $5.00. There will be a cash prize for the fastest duck.

At 11:00 am, there will be a canoe race, also sponsored by The Boy Scouts, held on the Green River between the two boat ramps. There will be a ''Hope for Haiti'' booth offering barbecue sandwiches and drinks, and the Livermore Elementary booth will offer lemon shake-ups. The Seniors will be offering free bottles of water and Poole's Pharmacy Care will be providing a cooling station with chairs, fans, and free glasses of water. They will also offer bottled water for a donation to the St. Jude's Foundation.

At 1:00 pm, there will be some local musicians playing music on the lawn next to the library and following at 2:00 pm, Mr. George McGhee, a Kentucky Chautauqua Player will be performing ''Henry Clay''.

3:30 pm will kick off an antique tractor parade.

The carnival will be opening again at 5:00 pm as will the golf cart tours of the city. To complete the evening, the ''Up and Gone'' Bluegrass Band will perform, about 6:30to 8:30 pm. The carnival will continue until about 10:00 pm.