Schmit and Friends to headline Street Party

LIMA — The fifth annual Legacy Arts Street Party will represent a milestone for organizers.

The free daylong event will feature Kaitlyn Schmit and Friends headlining a slate of performers from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 in front of the Legacy Arts Building on Main Street in Lima.

“We’re excited to have been able to do this since 2019, of course having to take a break in 2020, but we have five annual events, which is great,” organizer Kayla Zehery said. “We’re really grateful to all of our sponsors who allow us to continue making this a free, community- and family-friendly event.”

A mix of regional musicals will perform throughout the day around the 200 block of Main Street, and Schmit said she is excited to make her debut at an event despite being asked to perform in the past.

“I’m not quite sure what to expect since we’ve never been able to play it because we’re always booked out,” she said. “So I’m pumped to finally experience it this year because I hear it’s a really cool event. I’m excited to be a part of it.”

For Zehery, also the director of Legacy Arts, every year is an opportunity to grow the event, now featuring vendors, a food truck and a family art activity area to go with the all-day entertainment.

“There is so much energy around all of the improvements that have been happening downtown,” she said. “It seems like every year we get more and more people learning about the street party interested in coming out. We’re thankful that they trust us to put on great, quality events.”

The event is also an opportunity to send business throughout downtown Lima.

“We encourage people to come out for as long as they can because we have some really great musicians who are going to be playing during different times,” Zehery said. “We’re supporting a creative economy and we’re also going to have a food truck, but we’re encouraging people to patronize the downtown Lima food establishments, as well.”

Zehery praised sponsors for keeping the event open to families.

“We are a small group that puts this on so without the help of our volunteers and the help of the organizations who see the importance of sponsoring this event, we wouldn’t be able to put it on,” she said. “I think anybody who comes out for a little bit and sees what the event is like will understand the importance of being able to put on pre-programming like this. Also, anybody who has come to a street party before, we always see them back again so I hope people give us a try because we’re sure they’ll have a great time and be hooked and come back year after year.”

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Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.