LEBANON, Mo. (KY3) – A new space in Lebanon is answering the community’s call for more gathering space.
The new Downtown Plaza is a pocket park built into land that used to be a business before it burned down. The land was donated to the city specifically to be used for the community.
It’s an open area that includes a stage, string lights, and a bathroom. This way, it can be fit for any type of event.
The addition of this plaza is part of a bigger downtown revitalization effort.
“Downtowns are really important,” said Lagina Fitzpatrick, the executive director of Downtown Lebanon. “They’re a really important part of the economic drive for a community. It’s really great to new visitors to go downtown to go shopping, dining, check out everything that’s going on, as well as attend the events. Plus, it adds some diversity. People can get away from the box stores, buying items at box stores, and come to family-owned boutiques and go shopping at family-owned dining establishments.”
The City of Lebanon was able to hire a director of downtown thanks to a grant in 2020, and since then, the area has seen improvements in buildings, public spaces, walkability, and events.
On the first Friday of every month from July to October, that stage will be filled with bands playing live music for anyone to enjoy. It will also be open to other events that pop up downtown, like the car show in early May. It will also be available for private parties to rent, and that’s only the beginning.
“The city actually did a survey to our folks here in Lebanon,” said Fitzpatrick, “and said, ‘Hey, what are we missing? What do you guys want?’ They said, ‘We want more community space where we can gather.’ So the city listened, so that means a lot too, that they care about what their people are looking for. Every day I’m over here, and I’m thinking of something new that we could possibly do here, like can we add this and do this type of event? I think that the sky’s our limit for what we could do in this space for our community to come together. I’m real excited to see us moving forward and getting that done.”
While it had its official ribbon cutting last week, there are still some finishing touches to go in the space, like banners and lights.
“There’s been a really big focus on getting new businesses downtown,” Fitzpatrick said, “on helping support the businesses that are already downtown because we have some that have been here prior to the big boom that we had 5 or 6 years ago, so just a way to support them, get more feet through their stores, and see everything that they have to offer. You have to have package deals to make these things succeed, so this is just another part of the package.”
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