Music Jams and Jets, Festivals and Fireworks and One Special Birthday Bash

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - May 21, 2015 - PRLog -- Kick your summertime fun up a notch with a birthday celebration, fireworks, remote-control jets, music jams and more in Springfield, Ky. Beginning with its Independence Day Celebration, Springfield keeps things hopping with activities for everyone in the family. Visit Kick your summertime fun up a notch with a birthday celebration, fireworks, remote-control jets, music jams and more in Springfield, Ky. Beginning with its Independence Day Celebration, Springfield keeps things hopping with activities for everyone in the family. Visit www.kentuckytourism.com/city/Springfield to plan your summertime fun.

Birthday bash

Springfield marks one very special anniversary in June: The very first Dollar General store opened on June 1, 1955, in Springfield, after converting the space of Turner’s Department Store. Join the Birthday Bash on Saturday, June 13, to fete America’s favorite discount store and largest small-box retailer. There will be goody bags for the first 100 customers, 100 $10 gift cards given out and more at the current Springfield Dollar General.

Summertime spark

Springfield’s 13th Annual Independence Celebration takes place on Thurs., July 2, behind the Washington County Judicial Center in the center’s parking lot with lots of food and crafts booths (open at 6 p.m.) and live music from 7 to 10 p.m. Bring your lawn chair and relax to the music of the Jimmy Church Band, followed by the best fireworks show in central Kentucky.

See F-15s, F-4 Phantoms, a B-1 Bomber, a Stealth Fighter Jet – even an SR-71 spy plane – when the world’s largest remote control jet show (http://www.vimeo.com/27653193) lands at the Lebanon-Springfield Airport in Springfield. The 11th Annual Jets Over Kentucky Week takes place July 5 to 12 with about 200 pilots from around the world, pilot-led private tours, vendor booths and more.



Opening ceremonies take place at noon on Sat., July 11, followed by the Fighter Jet Showdown, a full-scale aerobatic jet show including high speed passes, 9G turns and simulated bomb runs. The Parade of Lights takes place Friday evening, a unique spectacle wherein the jets turn on their lights and travel in parade formation down the tarmac. An hour-long fireworks display follows the parade.

Come to Springfield on Sunday, July 26, for the Manton Music Jam, a free everyone-is-invited music festival from 1 to 8 p.m., featuring about a dozen or so bands and a cook-out. Bring a lawn chair and relax under the shade of the pecan trees across from Holy Rosary Church. Audience members are welcome to join in the jam on stage.

On Friday, July 31, join the crowd of 1,000 or so for the 12th Annual African American Heritage Festival in downtown Springfield. Food and other booths open at 6 p.m.; the parade starts at 7 p.m. Enjoy live music with the band, Big Black Cadillac, performing 8 to 11 p.m.

Theatre, Fiber Trail and “The Simpsons”

Springfield’s Central Kentucky Community Theatre presents “Boeing-Boeing,” a Mainstage production, on Aug. 14-16 and 28-30. The story is a fun and familiar one. Bernard Lawrence has his hands full in the romance department: he has three girlfriends – all stewardesses with different layovers. With the girls set to arrive at his Paris apartment all at once, Bernard’s foolproof scheme comes crashing down.

Make a weekend of it in Springfield and book a stay in one of Kentucky’s most award-winning bed and breakfast inns, Historic 1851 Maple Hill Manor, or overnight at the Springfield Inn or Lincoln Suites. Springfield is the home of the new Kentucky Fiber Trail, featuring several stops, including Maple Hill Manor Alpaca Farm and Farm Store, Serano Alpacas and Yarns, US Natural Fibers and Campbell’s West Wind Farm, where you can take a class in the age-old handicraft of wool sculpting.

Other attractions include the Springfield Opera House with an exhibit featuring NFL legend Phil Simms; the Dominican Mile walking trail at St. Catharine Motherhouse; the Mt. Zion Covered Bridge, on the National Register of Historic Places and Kentucky’s longest multi-span covered bridge; Lincoln Homestead State Park where you will find the original home of Lincoln’s mother; and a fun photo ops stop downtown with the cast of Matt Groening’s “The Simpsons.”

For more information about things to see and do in Springfield this summer, visit www.kentuckytourism.com/city/Springfield.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Carla Abbi, Executive Director, SeeSpringfieldKy@gmail.com, 270-402-5965

Springfield Tourism CommissioN, www.kentuckytourism.com/city/Springfield

HI- and LOW-RES photos available.

ABOUT SPRINGFIELD, KY │ Located at the center of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® on the crossroads of major adventure cycling trails, Springfield, Ky., has something unexpected around every corner: bourbon, wine and the new Kentucky Fiber Trail; locally-raised specialties like GMO-free beef, shitake mushrooms, organic greens and more; artisan-designed handicrafts; Lincoln and Civil War history; golf at Lincoln Homestead State Park; fishing and boating on Willisburg Lake; and a commitment to a sustainable future. Cyclists find the Trans America Bike and three routes traversing the Bike the Bourbon Trail. Foodies discover fine dining with a Southern flair and culinary outings to the vineyard. Historians come across Kentucky’s original Holy Land. Eco-minded travelers find alpaca farms, greenhouses and farmers markets. As home to one of Kentucky’s most award-winning bed and breakfast inns, Historic 1851 Maple Hill Manor, as well as a 62-room hotel and city camping, Springfield makes a charming destination for an overnight or a long weekend. Springfield: The Agri/Eco-Tourism Capital at the Crossroads of Adventure. www.facebook.com/SeeSpringfieldKY