Lexington ended its 250th anniversary celebration last night with an event at the Central Bank Center downtown. The city was originally founded in 1775, one year before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The anniversary celebrated Lexington with monthly exhibits and presentations highlighting the city’s history, culture and economic contributions.
Eunice Beatty is the co-chair of Lex250, the group organizing those events.
“We always said every month, is it interesting? Is it inclusive? Is it memorable? And so those are sort of our three pillars that we used,” Beatty said.
Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton hosted a conference Monday evening marking the end of the year-long festivities. She said the goal was to reach Lexingtonians from every walk of life.
“It's been a lot of hard work by many people, but a lot of fun,” Gorton said. “And this was truly a grassroots celebration all year long, bringing together thousands of our residents from every quarter of our city.”
Gorton said she’s hopeful people will look back to this year’s celebration 50 years later as a benchmark for the city.
“I think people will talk about this for a long time, and those of you who are here for the next one in 50 years can look back and see what our footprint was,” she said. “It lives in the stories we've shared and the events we've hosted, and the ways neighbors came together, and most of all, the sense of pride that we have seen in our city.”
