Good morning, Lancaster County. It's a sunny Tuesday headed for 92, the kind of day that ends best with big bubbles floating over a library lawn — and yes, that's a real thing happening tonight in Columbia. Speaking of Columbia: the river town just turned 300, and we've got the story.
In today's Lancaster Local:
Columbia celebrates its 300th birthday with fireworks, a parade, and a year-long party
Big bubbles in Columbia tonight and a hand-stitched "Christmas in July" class tomorrow
Free fun stacked all weekend: a street fest, live music, and a magic show
Greco's in Lititz is staying open 24 hours straight for National Ice Cream Day
COMMUNITY NEWS
The town that started as a ferry crossing just blew out 300 candles.
Three hundred years ago, a Quaker settler named John Wright started running a ferry across the Susquehanna, and the spot became Wright's Ferry — the town we now call Columbia. This year the borough is celebrating its tricentennial, and it's doing it the way small towns do best: all at once, all year long. The official Columbia 300 calendar kicked off with an opening ceremony and Music in the Park on June 19, brought the Lancaster County Firefighters Parade through town, rolled right into Riverfest on the riverfront — and on the Fourth of July, Columbia threw itself a proper 300th birthday party, with fireworks over Glatfelter Field and the band Pop Scotch playing the town into its fourth century.
The party isn't over, either. The borough's free tricentennial speaker series runs through October, digging into everything from the Underground Railroad heroes who lived here to the 1863 bridge burning that stopped Confederate troops at the river's edge. Not bad for a ferry crossing.
EVENTS
A hot week, a full calendar — most of it free.
🫧 Bunch of Bubbles! — Columbia Public Library, 24 S 6th St, Columbia. Tonight, Tuesday, July 14, 6–7 p.m. Giant bubbles on the lawn for kids and their grown-ups, free through the library's Summer Reading series — registration closes at 5:30, so grab a spot this afternoon.
🧵 Kawandi Quilt Ornament: Christmas in July — RELIQ, 1 S Market St Ste 102, Elizabethtown. Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 15, 6–8 p.m. Artist Nancy Wilkinson teaches the hand-stitched quilting tradition of India's Siddi community, scaled down to a one-of-a-kind ornament. $24, all materials included — message RELIQ to sign up.
🎙️ Columbia 300 Speaker Series: Columbia's African American Hometown Heroes — National Watch & Clock Museum, 514 Poplar St, Columbia. Thursday, July 16, 6:30 p.m. Celeste Leslie traces Columbia's Black servicemen from the Civil War to Vietnam — part of the tricentennial series from today's community story.
🎪 Third in Strasburg + Carnival Fun Fair — downtown Strasburg, Main St, Strasburg. Friday, July 17, 5–8 p.m. Shops stay open late for the monthly third-Friday stroll, and this month Wesley UMC adds a carnival in its lot at 40 W Main St — games, face painting, food, and a canned-good drive for local food banks. Free.
🎶 Music Friday — Binns Park, 136 N Queen St, Lancaster. Friday, July 17, 4–8 p.m. The city and Music For Everyone take over downtown on the third Friday of every summer month with free live music. Bring a chair, stay for dinner.
🎩 Free Family Magic Show — Ewell Plaza, 145 N Queen St, Lancaster. Saturday, July 18, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. "I See Magic" performs free shows on the plaza with food trucks parked alongside — an easy no-cost Saturday with the kids.
🍦 National Ice Cream Day: Greco's Open 24 Hours — Greco's Italian Ices & Homemade Ice Cream, 9 E Kleine Ln, Lititz. Sunday, July 19, all day and all night. Greco's is staying open 24 hours straight for the first time ever — midnight glow party, ice cream for breakfast, a Lititz scavenger hunt, and giveaways until they close Monday morning. Watch their page for limited-spot signups.
🤼 Micro Wrestling Federation — Penn Medicine Park, 650 N Prince St, Lancaster. Monday, July 20, 7–9 p.m. Full-scale pro wrestling with an entire cast under five feet tall — singles matches, a venue-wide Micro Brawl, and a title-on-the-line Micro Rumble. All-ages, ticketed.
🍺 Lancaster Beer Gardens — Buchanan Park, 901 Buchanan Ave, Lancaster. Thursday, July 23 through Saturday, July 25, opening at 4 p.m. Thursday. Lancaster Rec's traveling beer garden lands in Buchanan Park with local brews, rotating food trucks, and yard games — free to walk in, and proceeds go back into rec programs.
🦅 Summer Block Party — The Shops @Rockvale, 35 S Willowdale Dr, Lancaster. Friday, July 24, 5–8 p.m. The Eagles Pro Shop celebrates training camp season with Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro, Swoop and the Eagles Cheerleaders, bounce houses, face painting, food trucks, and 20% off in-store. Free.
Weather
Tuesday, July 14 — Sunny and hot, topping out near 92 with barely a breeze, and only dropping to 70 tonight. Fair warning: Wednesday pushes toward 99, so today counts as the cool one. Water bottle now, bubbles at 6, porch after dark.
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