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Signature Projects
Projects originating and managed by Celebrate Lexington!
Purple Coneflower
In 2017, after many suggestions from American in Bloom Evaluators, we decided to nominate a city flower. After a city-wide survey, the clear winner was Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). The city council agreed and it was final!
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Purple Coneflower makes a remarkable appearance in the Wellington Park daffodil drift.
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GET INVOLVED to promote this beautiful native flower with seed packets, signs, and fliers.
Book Trails 2023 - 2024
To celebrate and encourage literacy and nature in Fayette County, Celebrate Lexington has developed a series of Book Trails on fencing in collaboration with Lexington Parks & Recreation. Stop by and read a children's picture book written by Central Kentucky authors at Jacobson Park (Play Area), Wellington Park (Dog Park), and Masterson Station (Dog Park). We rotate them every year.
GET INVOLVED by sending us a photo of you walking the trail to be featured on our social media.
Community Champion
In 2017, AIB Lexington created the Isabel Yates Community Champion Award to honor this former Vice Mayor for her unceasing work in beautification and historic preservation in the Bluegrass. Rather than present her a plaque, a daffodil drift was planted in her honor at Wellington Park. The award continues to be presented annually with three adjoining drifts/awards per park.​
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GET INVOLVED to suggest a Community Champion to our Board!
 2023 Winner Ann Garrity ArtWorks at Carver |  2022 Winner Thomas Tolliver Charles Young Park |
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 2021 Winner Jake Gibbs Charles Young Park |  2020 Winner Yvonne Giles Charles Young Park |
 2019 Winner Elizabeth Pattengill Wellington Park |  2018 Winner Marcia Farris Wellington Park |
 2017 Winner Isabel Yates Wellington Park |
Daffodil Drifts
Since 2017 we’ve been planting about 1,000 daffodils per year to commemorate our Community Champion as a permanent Thank You for their efforts. Each spring, these spring flowers grace highly visible sites around Lexington. Two locations have been identified thus far.
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Wellington Park was the first to be filled with 3,000 daffodils. Because of it’s high visibility from both the Wellington Walking Trail and from New Circle Road, we decided to continue the plantings with Lexington’s Official Flower, the Purple Coneflower, and a riot of zinnias. The Kentucky state flower, the goldenrod, has been added to the drift. These last through the summer season into fall.
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Charles Young Park was completed in 2022 with three plantings of 1,000 each. Visible from Midland Avenue and Third Street, it is an integral part of the new Community Center, Splash park, and other new attractions.
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In November of 2023 Celebrate Lexington planted the first 1,000 bulbs along Oliver Lewis Way. Look for them in March of 2024!
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GET INVOLVED by suggesting sites for daffodil plantings, or to join our email list so you will know about upcoming events.
Celebrate Lexington Brunch
From the first Community Brunch that launched what became Celebrate Lexington!, we have loved bringing together the wide variety of organizations, government, nonprofits, businesses working hard to make Lexington a wonderful place to live and work. The pandemic has put these plans on hold, but we hope to be able to get together once again to break out of our silos and collaborate more.
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GET INVOLVED by joining our email list to be informed about new events.
Downtown Walking Tour
As part of the 2017 Symposium held in Lexington, a walking tour was created to highlight Lexington’s history and beauty. The tour is available online at LexingtonKY.gov/WalkingTour
