Somerset counts down to 2023 with popular New Year festival

Light Up 2023 Bash features Prop Drop, food vendors, live music and new entertainment

Ring­ing in the new year on Foun­tain Square has quick­ly become a Som­er­set tra­di­tion, and 2023 brings more to love about this com­mu­ni­ty fes­ti­val. 

The Light Up 2023 Bash begins at 6 p.m. Sat­ur­day, Dec. 31 at Foun­tain Square and will include every­thing thou­sands of atten­dees have come to expect — local food trucks, spir­its ven­dors, a Prop Drop count­down, local music, and a dance par­ty to wel­come the new year.

The Com­pa­ny Band, a high-ener­gy ensem­ble that hails from Chica­go, has led this dance par­ty the last two fes­ti­vals, but mem­bers had a con­flict this year. Thank­ful­ly, they had an equal­ly excit­ing alter­na­tive wait­ing when See Som­er­set Tourism Direc­tor Leslie Ikerd came call­ing.

“We’re so excit­ed to wel­come The Next Lev­el Band of Char­lotte to our Light Up Bash this year,” Ikerd said. “They’ll per­form pop­u­lar songs from the decades that I know will keep us all danc­ing until the prop drops at mid­night.”

The Som­er­set Big Band — fea­tur­ing musi­cians from around the Lake Cum­ber­land area who per­form the big band era stylings of Frank Sina­tra, Judy Gar­land, Nat King Cole and more — kicks off the Light Up 2023 Bash at 6 p.m. They are fol­lowed by duo Hei­di and Ryan at 8 p.m., a Som­er­set cou­ple who per­forms every­thing from blue­grass to gospel to coun­try.

The Next Lev­el Band of Char­lotte will take the Lake Cum­ber­land Tourism stage at 10 p.m. and car­ry the crowd through the new year. This year’s fes­ti­val will be emceed by Kevin Wil­son with Som­er­set 106.

The music isn’t the only thing to keep fes­ti­val­go­ers occu­pied — while corn­hole is a Som­er­set fes­ti­val favorite and will be avail­able again for the Light Up Bash, the event will also fea­ture a new activ­i­ty: axe throw­ing.

“East Ken­tucky Axes will join us this year, bring­ing axes and a trail­er of four tar­gets for peo­ple who want to have fun test­ing their aim,” Ikerd said. “This activ­i­ty is grow­ing in pop­u­lar­i­ty, and I’m thrilled this local group has signed on to pro­vide enter­tain­ment at all of our fes­ti­vals in 2023.”

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

Those who want to pur­chase alco­holic bev­er­ages must first pur­chase a $5 spir­it wrist­band, which be avail­able at any of the festival’s three entrance gates. Entrances are locat­ed at Judi­cial Cen­ter Plaza, the inter­sec­tion of Maple and East Mt. Ver­non streets, and the inter­sec­tion of North Main and Colum­bia streets.

“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.”

Safe rides to and from the Light Up 2023 Bash are spon­sored by The Law Office of Jere­my A. Bart­ley and pro­vid­ed by You Ride, We Dri­ve. Fes­ti­val­go­ers who live local­ly can pre-book trans­porta­tion by call­ing (262) 484‑6365. A dri­ver will be sched­uled to pick up cus­tomers from their loca­tion and take them to the fes­ti­val, with a return ride home at the time they choose.

Those who dri­ve to the fes­ti­val but feel they need a ride home also have that option. Just call the same num­ber, (262) 484‑6365, to sched­ule a ride. You Ride, We Dri­ve will be sta­tioned behind the fes­ti­val stage at the inter­sec­tion of Vine and West Mt. Ver­non streets to pick up those who’ve sched­uled a ride home.

Road clo­sures

Streets in the fes­ti­val area will close at 9 a.m. Sat­ur­day, 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 peo­ple down­town and cel­e­brat­ing the way the com­mu­ni­ty has come togeth­er to light up Som­er­set.

“When we set off on this jour­ney to tell our community’s sto­ry four years ago, we said we would light up Som­er­set, allow­ing it to shine by mak­ing the impos­si­ble pos­si­ble,” Keck said. “We’ve done that through so many com­mu­ni­ty projects. Our New Year’s Eve event is called the Light Up Bash as a sym­bol of that goal. I can’t wait to keep mak­ing that light shine as we enter the new year and work to make Som­er­set an even bet­ter place to live.”

Click here more infor­ma­tion about the Light Up 2023 Bash or fol­low @SeeSomersetKy on Face­book.