Good morning, Lancaster County. Sunny again with a high near 88 and barely a breeze, so if you've been putting off the thing you wanted to do outside, this is the week. First, a number from the food pantry on North Queen Street that stopped us cold: fifty.
In today's Lancaster Local:
Fifty languages and dialects are spoken in Lancaster, and the Food Hub did something about it
Tonight you can go make deliberately bad art, or learn which plants keep a garden interesting in February
Kids can drop a stuffed animal off at the library tonight and pick it up tomorrow
Two county park programs this weekend close registration at noon Friday — after that, the door shuts
COMMUNITY NEWS
Fifty languages and dialects are spoken in Lancaster. The food pantry bought a machine so people don't have to reach for their phones.
The Lancaster County Food Hub has been feeding and clothing neighbors since 1947, when it started life as the Lancaster County Council of Churches. That's coming up on eighty years. Since 2014 it has worked out of a warehouse it bought and renovated at 812 North Queen Street, under the line "serving with faith & compassion."
Earlier this month they mentioned, almost in passing, a figure that reframes what that work actually involves. Fifty different languages and dialects are spoken in Lancaster.
So they bought a translation system — Translate Live — and put it into every one of their service areas, paid for by a grant from two sponsors, one of them the Foxwynd Foundation. Here is how they described what happened next:
"Used in all service areas, the response from neighbors has been remarkable. As one volunteer witnessed, a smile appears, shoulders relax, and anxiety gives relief when someone realizes they can communicate in their native language."
Shoulders relax. That is the detail that tells you what it had been like before.
And then the sentence from a neighbor at the counter, which is better than anything we could write about it:
"I love this! I don't have to take out my phone. We can just talk."
The Food Hub's walk-in hours for food and the clothing bank are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 9:30 to 11:45 a.m. — closed Wednesdays for intake and restocking, and sometimes earlier than 11:45 if the shelves run down.
EVENTS
Three things tonight, then a weekend with two deadlines attached to it.
🧸 Stuffed Animal Sleepover — Lancaster Public Library, 151 North Queen Street, Lancaster, PA 17603. Tonight, Wednesday, August 19, drop-off 4:00–7:30 p.m. Ages 3–12; registration required and closes at 3:45 p.m. Your kid's stuffed animal stays at the library overnight, where it will reportedly "play games, eat snacks, read books, and maybe get into a little mischief." Pick-up is Thursday, August 20, 4:00–7:30 p.m. The library's own warning is the best part: "Do not drop off any stuffed animal you can't sleep without!"
🎨 Bad Art Club — Lancaster Public Library, 151 North Queen Street, Lancaster, PA 17603. Tonight, Wednesday, August 19, 6:00–8:00 p.m. Adults 18+; registration required and closes at 5:45 p.m. The whole premise is permission. Whether you're blocked or you've genuinely never picked up a pencil, the club asks you to drop the perfectionism and, in its words, "give yourself permission to play, make mistakes, have fun, and just make bad art."
🌿 Creating Year-Round Interest with Native Plants — Ephrata Public Library, 550 South Reading Road, Ephrata, PA 17522. Tonight, Wednesday, August 19, 6:00–7:00 p.m. Adults 18+; registration closes at 5:45 p.m. Penn State Extension Master Gardener Adam Barkafski on the problem every gardener eventually hits — perennials that bloom gloriously for two weeks and then do nothing for ten months. The ideas apply to any perennial; the worked examples are native plants suited to Lancaster County.
🎵 90s Music Bingo at Grandview Vineyard — 1489 Grandview Road, Mount Joy, PA 17552. Thursday, August 20, 6:30–8:00 p.m. Thirty-second clips, a bingo card each, a master sheet per table, and prizes. No music knowledge required, which is a generous thing to put in writing.
🚒 2026 Kids Fire Experience — Christiana Fire Company, 214 South Bridge Street, Christiana, PA 17509. Friday, August 21, 6:30–9:00 p.m. and Saturday, August 22, 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. ⚠ Registration is closed — the fire company has posted that no further registrations will be accepted, so this one is for families already signed up. Friday is family night, with parents staying. Saturday is the real thing: kids spend the day learning fire, EMS and police skills from an all-volunteer company that has been at it since 1882, and parents come back for the closing ceremony. Worth knowing about for next August.
🌬️ River Glass Windchimes — Environmental Center, Lancaster County Central Park, 1050 Rockford Road, Lancaster, PA 17602. Saturday, August 22, 10:00–11:00 a.m. $4 per person, ages 8 and up. Glass that ends up in the Conestoga gets tumbled smooth over the years into a kind of river-made sea glass. You'll learn how the watershed works and turn some of it into a windchime to take home. Register and prepay by noon Friday, and don't wait — it was nearly full when we checked.
🏍️ Annual Christopher Miller Memorial Bike Show — Leola Community Park, 23 East Main Street, Leola, PA 17540. Sunday, August 23, 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. ABATE of PA's Lancaster County chapter runs this one for the Upper Leacock Fire Company. Trophies in eight classes, $10 a bike to enter and you can enter as many classes as you want, and the People's Choice trophy goes to whoever collects the most votes at a dollar each. Vendors, food trucks, and fire trucks for the kids to see.
🕷️ End of Summer Spider and Insect Hunt — Environmental Center, 1050 Rockford Road, Lancaster, PA 17602. Sunday, August 23, 2:00–3:00 p.m. $2 per person, all ages. An hour at the edge of the woods in Central Park finding out what's living there, including North America's largest moth. Everything interesting gets a close look and then goes back exactly where it came from. Same deadline: register and prepay by noon Friday. And per the listing: please don't wear bug spray.
Wednesday, August 19 — Sunny with a high near 88, calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the afternoon. Tonight, mostly cloudy with a low around 68.
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