Rotary Club preparing for Lansdale Day
Beer garden, car show, dozens of vendors on tap for June 3 festival
One of the biggest celebration is in the Borough of Lansdale is now just days away.
The 40th annual Lansdale Day celebration will take place on June 3, and organizers with the Rotary Club of North Penn say this year’s event will be bigger and better than ever, with a new beer garden headlining the changes for 2017.
“We’re going to have umbrella tables, there will be an acoustic trio band playing, and we’re hoping that this will bring some additional income in, so we’ll be able to give back to the community even more,” said Rotary Club Secretary Tammy Skiermont.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day, roughly five blocks of Main Street from Cannon Avenue to Madison Street will be transformed into a
thoroughfare of dozens of vendor stalls, while businesses will remain open behind them.
Admission tickets to the pop-up beer garden will be $10 and include one beer from Round Guys Brewery, who will host the event. Local distillery Boardroom Spirits will also be present. Other special brews and spirits will be available for sale, and must be consumed within the beer garden area, which will be located at the West Main Street parking lot at Main and Susquehanna Avenue and will have seating for roughly 50 people at a time.
“It will give people a chance to sit and relax for a few minutes, have a beer, listen to some good music, and hopefully enjoy the day,” Skiermont said.
Proceeds from the sales of wristbands for the beer garden will be donated to local charities, as will all proceeds from the rest of the day’s activities. Throughout the day, a new
car show and dozens of art, craft, and food vendors will line the streets of downtown, with live entertainment and games and other activities for kids.
“We normally have a zip line all day, which people have probably seen at First Fridays, and we’ll also have a bungee jump, a bungee trampoline, an 18foot slide, and other inflatables, at three different locations along Main Street: at Richardson (Avenue), at Wood (Street) and at Green (Street),” Skiermont said.
Organizations that have received funds from the Rotary Club in the last several years include Manna on Main Street, Laurel House, North Penn Valley Boys & Girls Club, North Penn YMCA, RSVP of Montgomery County, Easter Seals, the Kelly Ann Dolan Foundation, The Peak Center and Trucks for Maddox.
Kids can run, jump and bounce on the various fun zone inflatables at all three sites an unlimited number of times with the purchase of a $15 wristband. The day will also feature a juried arts and craft show, a community marketplace
showcasing local civic groups and nonprofits, a pet alley of petrelated items and groups, a food court of food trucks from around the area, and representatives of some of the Rotary Club’s dozens of sponsors.
“We are bursting at the seams this year. It’s great — we have every space filled, and then some,” Skiermont said.
The arts festival will feature contemporary and traditional fine arts including oil paintings, watercolors and photography, in addition to artisan crafts like jewelry, wooden craft items, soaps and body lotions, candles, garden decorative items and dolls. Nearly all of the vendors are from the local area, and are screened to ensure high quality for those looking to do some shopping.
“People said there were a fair amount of crafters last year and the year before, and this year we have triple that amount, and a good 90 percent of them are local,” Skiermont said.
And for those who are up for playing the odds, the Rotary Club will run an anniversary
50/50 drawing, with half of the proceeds going to a lucky winner and half going to the Rotary Club and those it supports.
“With the expectation of over 5,000 people attending this event, you can imagine what that 50/50 might be,” she said.
Admission to the day’s events is free, and parking will be free around town, with a rain date of Sunday, June 4 if the event is rained out on Saturday. A decision will be made by Friday afternoon, June 2, on whether to postpone from Saturday to Sunday, but Skiermont said it will take more than a light rain to cause a delay.
“Noah’s Ark has to be sailing down Main Street for us to postpone it. There has to be a deluge. A slight sprinkle, we go for it. Overcast, we go for it,” she said.
For more information on the Rotary Club of North Penn and the 40th annual Lansdale Day, visit www. RotaryClubofNorthPenn or search for “Rotary Club of North Penn” or “Lansdale Day Arts and Crafts Festival” on Facebook.