Downtown cleanup coming Sunday ahead of Founders Day events
With the borough’s birthday celebration fast approaching, Lansdale residents will take to the streets this weekend to try to make the town spotless.
“This Sunday, the 19th, we’ll be doing a Main Street cleanup, asking volunteers to come out and help,” said Councilman Bill Henning.
“We have a lot of big events coming up: Founders Day, First Friday, Bike Night, and Cruise Night, so it’s an opportunity for the community
to get together for a good cause,” Henning said.
The cleanup event will start at 11 a.m. on Aug. 19 at Railroad Plaza, located at Main and Madison streets, and cleaning supplies including trash bags, gloves and water will be provided, Henning announced during Wednesday night’s council meeting. After the cleanup is over, anyone who volunteers will also be invited to a free lunch provided by Smoke Daddy’s Barbecue, which Henning said was “really nice” of them to donate.
After the cleanup effort on the 19th, the countdown will continue to the borough’s Founders Day festivities on Aug. 25, when Lansdale marks the 146th anniversary of the town’s founding. The day’s events are organized by local nonprofit Discover Lansdale with a theme of “Saluting our Hometown Heroes,” and Discover’s President Mary Fuller gave a rundown of new additions this year.
“We always officially say that we start the day with the opening of the Lansdale Farmers Market at 9 a.m. This year, at 9:15, we’re adding a tour in the Lansdale Cemetery,” Fuller said.
Located at Broad Street and Whites Road, the cemetery
contains the final resting place of dozens of prominent residents from the earliest days of the borough, and Lansdale Historical Society member Pat Rieker will give a guided tour, including a visit to the grave site of longtime cemetery caretaker Dick Stricker.
“She will highlight veterans who are now buried in the cemetery. Also, we’ll start with the Dick Stricker piece, where he is, and his involvement in the cemetery, since he will be honored at 10:30 (a.m.) during the Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony,” Fuller said.
2017 was the first year Founders Day included a vintage car parade, and one will be held with a new route this year, Fuller said: cars will stage at the Univest Bank on the 500 block of West Main
Street, then head east on Main to Wood Street, travel the Wood-Vine Connector route past borough hall to Broad Street, then park on the lot of the borough freight station at Broad and Vine. At the freight station, borough public works vehicles will also be on display, and SEPTA will have vintage buses run in the parade and then stationed at the borough train station.
Also at the train station, excursion trains to Souderton will be run by the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad, leaving from and returning to the Lansdale Station at 11 a.m. and 12:30, 2, and 3:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online ahead of time or at the station on that day, according to Fuller and Henning.
Across Main Street from
the rail station, live music and food trucks will be held from 1 to 7 p.m. in the parking lot of the Century Plaza office building, and a beer garden will be held on Green Street from 1 to 7. At 3 p.m. a salute to veterans will be held at the monuments to war veterans inside Memorial Park, with historical society member Marsha Althouse speaking on those who gave their lives.
“She’s been doing research on the stories behind the men who are memorialized on the monuments, and she will share the stories of at least six of the men, and surviving family members will be invited,” Fuller said.
Another change for 2018 will be updates to the water battle, held outside the Fairmount Fire Company’s station at Vine Street and Susquehanna Avenue. This year, Fuller said, staff from several borough departments will take part in the water battle, which will run from 1 to 2 p.m.
Other events include the annual Festival of the Arts, held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Memorial Park; a health and wellness fair sponsored by The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Montgomery County from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Railroad Plaza; and a solar energy open house from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Borough Hall, 1 Vine St.
The lifetime achievement award will be presented to
Stricker’s family at 10:30 a.m. at borough hall, and the police station portion of the building will be open for public tours from 1:30 to 5 p.m.
The Lansdale Historical Society will offer tours its Jenkins Homestead, 137 Jenkins Avenue, from 11 a.m.
to 3 p.m., and the night will close with a fireworks show at 9 p.m., launched from Penndale Middle School.
For more information on the Founders Day festivities, visit www.DiscoverLansdale. org, search for “Lansdale PA” on Facebook or follow @ LansdaleOrg on Twitter.