City of Somerset’s end-of-year celebration returns

Light Up 2022 Bash will bring back the Prop Drop, food trucks and music that made the first New Year’s festival a success

SOMERSET, KENTUCKY (Decem­ber 29, 2021) — After tak­ing off a year to cel­e­brate safe­ly at home, the City of Som­er­set is bring­ing back its New Year’s fes­ti­val and invites the com­mu­ni­ty to ring in 2022 down­town.

The Light Up 2022 Bash begins at 7 p.m. Dec. 31 at Foun­tain Square and will include every­thing that made the first event a suc­cess — local food trucks, spir­its ven­dors, a Prop Drop count­down, local music, and The Com­pa­ny Band, a high-ener­gy ensem­ble that will play feel-good favorites into the new year.

“The Com­pa­ny Band real­ly brought the par­ty in 2019,” Som­er­set Tourism Direc­tor Leslie Ikerd said. “It was incred­i­ble to see hun­dreds of peo­ple danc­ing in the street down­town and cel­e­brat­ing as a com­mu­ni­ty. We’re so excit­ed to bring this event back this year and to com­ple­ment The Com­pa­ny Band with a stel­lar line­up of local musi­cians.”

The local line­up includes per­form­ers who played the city’s fes­ti­vals through­out the year. Tom­my Minton & Friends, the house band, will play from 7 to 9:45 p.m. and will be joined by Cassie York, Jonathan New and Spooky Fox through­out the set. The Com­pa­ny Band takes the Horse Sol­dier Bour­bon stage at 10 p.m. and will play until the fes­ti­val ends at 12:30 a.m.

Foun­tain Square will be sur­round­ed by local food, drink and spir­its ven­dors, Ikerd said. A large tent with tables and seat­ing will be avail­able for any­one who wants to escape the ele­ments. Fes­ti­val-goers are encour­aged to bring their own chairs and blan­kets.

Those who want to pur­chase alco­holic bev­er­ages must first pur­chase a $5 wrist­band, which will be sold at a cen­tral loca­tion in front of the foun­tain this year as opposed to the entrance gates.

“As always, safe­ty is our No. 1 pri­or­i­ty,” Ikerd said. “We are ded­i­cat­ed to ensur­ing every­one who con­sumes alco­holic bev­er­ages at our fes­ti­val does so safe­ly and legal­ly. Please drink respon­si­bly and make sure you have a safe ride home and don’t for­get your ID.”

Any­one who needs a safe ride home from the fes­ti­val will have one, thanks to a new spon­sor­ship from The Law Office of Jere­my A. Bart­ley. Those seek­ing a ride should vis­it Bartley’s office, 35 Pub­lic Square, where a sign-up tent will be locat­ed.

This year’s fes­ti­val will be emceed by Jere­my Tay­lor, own­er of Tay­lor Lead­er­ship Group. Taylor’s work is ded­i­cat­ed to help­ing peo­ple grow at work and in life as a speak­er and coach. He is a nat­ur­al fit for lead­ing the com­mu­ni­ty into the new year, Ikerd said.

“Jere­my exudes so much pos­i­tiv­i­ty and pas­sion, and tru­ly believes in our mis­sion of light­ing up Som­er­set,” Ikerd said. “I am thrilled he agreed to serve as our emcee. I know he’s going to bring an incred­i­bly fun vibe to the fes­ti­val.”

The fes­ti­val will open at 7 p.m., with the main entrance locat­ed at Judi­cial Cen­ter Plaza.

Streets in the fes­ti­val area will close at 8 a.m. Dec. 31 to ensure motorist and par­tic­i­pant safe­ty. Any­one who needs to do busi­ness on or near the square on New Year’s Eve should be aware and locate anoth­er route to access the area, Ikerd said.

All roads lead­ing into Foun­tain Square (East and West Mount Ver­non, North and South Main) will be closed around the square, as well as North and South Maple from the inter­sec­tion at Colum­bia Street to the Judi­cial Cen­ter park­ing lot. These roads will remain closed until the fes­ti­val is over, all bar­ri­cades are removed, and fes­ti­val area streets swept.

North and South Cen­tral Avenue will remain open for thru traf­fic. The fol­low­ing road­ways may be use­ful for detour­ing the fes­ti­val area: Cen­tral Avenue, Lime­stone Avenue, Oak Street, Vine Street, Craw­ford Avenue, South Richard­son Dri­ve, Mur­phy Avenue, Jarvis Avenue, Col­lege Street and Bar­nett Street.

Som­er­set May­or Alan Keck said he looks for­ward to wel­com­ing the com­mu­ni­ty and cel­e­brat­ing the incred­i­ble accom­plish­ments the city has had in 2021.

“This year has been chal­leng­ing to be sure, but it’s also been incred­i­bly spe­cial,” Keck said. “From record eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment and invest­ment in our down­town to com­ing togeth­er as a com­mu­ni­ty to find unique and inno­v­a­tive ways to get through the pan­dem­ic, we have a lot to cel­e­brate. I look for­ward to greet­ing every­one at the square and count­ing down to anoth­er spe­cial year ahead.”

Click here for more infor­ma­tion about the Light Up 2022 Bash, or fol­low @SeeSomersetKy on Face­book.