Good morning, Lancaster County. It's a mostly sunny 84-degree Thursday, which is close to perfect weather for free water ice at a city wading pool and a last-of-the-season concert on a lawn in Millersville. Here's what's worth getting off the couch for over the next week and a half.
In today's Lancaster Local:
Five volunteers cleared a hillside by hand, and spring gave them an answer
Free water ice, an open wading pool, and the Mayor — all in Lancaster tonight
A folk art festival in Reinholds and classic rock in a Mount Joy park
Metal-detecting finds in Manheim, plus 550 vendors take over downtown Lititz
COMMUNITY NEWS
They spent two years cutting a hillside free of invasive shrubs. This spring, it answered them.
For decades, a hillside at Windolph Landing was locked up under bush honeysuckle — an invasive shrub grown thick enough that almost no light reached the forest floor. The Lancaster Conservancy, which owns the 22-acre preserve on the Conestoga River a short drive south of the city, started cutting it out in July 2024. Not with machines. With loppers and Sawzalls, by hand.
The crew doing it calls itself the Misfits. It started as two people. It's five now, and they show up every week to do restoration work across the Conservancy's preserves. One of them, Kirk Piper, has been volunteering about seven years and hiking these trails for fifty. Asked why he does it, he keeps the answer to five words: "It's the right thing to do."
Nobody planted what came next. This past spring, Virginia bluebells — dormant in the seed bed the entire time, waiting on light — came up across the whole hillside.
"Where there was once a hillside filled with invasive shrubs," Conservancy forester Eric Roper said, "visitors in 2026 were greeted by a carpet of vibrant bluebell blooms."
The Conservancy shared the story last week. The bluebells are done blooming for the year, but the hillside they came back on is open to walk any day you want.
EVENTS
Nine picks across eight towns — two of them tonight, and a big one to circle for next weekend.
🎻 Summer Fun Series Finale: Everlasting Wishes — Alumni House Lawn, 205 N George St., Millersville, PA 17551. Tonight, Thursday, July 30, 6–7 p.m. The last outdoor concert of Millersville's summer series — an hour on the lawn, no ticket, no fuss. Free.
🍧 Lancaster Rec's Ice Cream Social — Reservoir Park Playground & Wading Pool, 832 E. Orange Street, Lancaster, PA. Tonight, Thursday, July 30, 5–7 p.m. Free water ice while it lasts, the wading pool open, a water-safety table from AARP, and the Mayor of Lancaster city shaking hands. Free.
📚 Summer Storytime at Aaron's Books — 35 E. Main Street, Lititz, PA 17543. Tomorrow, Friday, July 31, 10:30–11:30 a.m. Ms. Alex reads at the front of the shop every Friday, with music, a craft or a snack thrown in depending on the week. Best for ages 2–5. Free.
🧺 Annual Art Festival — Reinholds Fire Company Banquet Hall, 156 W Main St (Route 897), Reinholds, PA 17569. Saturday, August 1, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. Fifteen-plus exhibitors selling redware, tinware, brooms, baskets, penny rugs, fraktur, wood carving and folk-art painting — the kind of work that's getting harder to find in person. Proceeds go to Reinholds Station Trinity Chapel. No admission charge.
🎺 Music in Memorial Park: Whiskey Rose — Memorial Park, 101 Marietta Ave, Mount Joy, PA 17552. Sunday, August 2, 5:30–7:30 p.m. Classic and southern rock in the park, with Piper Belles BBQ setting up at 5 p.m. so you can eat first. Bring a lawn chair or a blanket. Free.
🦕 Stegosaurus to Steam — Columbia Public Library, 24 South 6th Street, Columbia, PA 17512. Tuesday, August 4, 10:30–11:30 a.m. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania walks kids from dinosaurs and ancient plants to the coal that powered Pennsylvania's trains — real fossils to handle, and a model steam engine running at the end. Free, but registration is required and it caps at 30.
🚒 Food Truck & Touch A Truck Night — East Petersburg Community Park, 6051 Pine St, East Petersburg, PA 17520. Friday, August 7, 5:30–8:30 p.m. Kids climb on the working trucks and meet the crews who drive them, while Next Level Pizza, Side Street BBQ, OBX Lemonade and Cupcakes by Casey handle dinner. Hosted by the East Petersburg Volunteer Fire Company. Free.
🧭 Unearthing History: Metal Detecting Secrets with the LRRC — Manheim Community Library, 547 N Penryn Rd, Manheim, PA 17545. Saturday, August 8, 12–1 p.m. Members of the Lancaster Research & Recovery Club bring in what they've pulled out of local ground and explain how they knew where to dig. The finds are on the table to look at up close. Free, registration required.
🛍️ Lititz Rotary Club Craft Show — downtown Lititz, PA 17543. Saturday, August 8, 8 a.m.–3 p.m. About 550 vendors fill Main Street from the Square east to Willow, and Broad south to Marion — the Rotary Club's biggest fundraiser of the year, with the money going back to local charities. Rain or shine. Park free at Evangelical Free Church (419 Pierson Road) or Garman Builders (529 E Main St) and ride the shuttle, running 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Weather
Thursday, July 30 — Mostly sunny with a high near 84 and a northwest breeze around 13 mph, gusting into the low 20s. About as good as late July gets here, so take the ice cream outside.
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