‘A celebration for everyone’: City leaders reflect on one year of 250Lex

Editor’s Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city’s history — some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.

Over the past year, Lexington has celebrated its past, present and future, and city officials hope the celebrations will continue in 2026.

During a ceremony marking the end of 250Lex, the year-long celebration of the city’s founding, Mayor Linda Gorton reflected on what the events have meant.

“For the past 12 months, our community has been on a mission — celebrating 250 years of the spirit of what makes Lexington such a special place to call home,” she said during a press conference prior to the unveiling of a public art creation that will hang inside the center.

250Lex co-commissioners Eunice Beatty and Kip Cornett said the year’s programming, which included a multitude of events, met their three criteria: to be interesting, to be inclusive and to be memorable. The programming brought the city together for a common goal, to celebrate the city.

“Lexington applauded things like community grant winners, winning writers, entrepreneur winners, culinary winners, commissioned music and arts, a record-setting largest bourbon tasting ever and the vote of being the number one city in the U.S. to visit during June of 2025,” Beatty said. “For the entire birthday year, Lexington spread inclusion all around Lexington … we embraced the rich history of our progressive present and the unlimited possibility of our culturally diverse city.”

The celebration reached all corners of the city, Cornett said.

“We really heavily programmed and executed in so many great ways in so many parts of the city … no one can look at this and say this was not a celebration for everyone, young and old, all over the city,” he said.

The year meant an increased focus on the city’s history, said Mandy Higgins, executive director of the Lexington History Museum.

The museum saw an increase in traffic, she said, and was able to put on many events, including two international fashion and dance events showcasing Lexington’s connections all over the world. And its “Intersections” exhibit, which will run through July 2026, showcased the people who made the city’s history happen.

“It has been an incredible opportunity to showcase Lexington’s many and varied histories and to remind residents and visitors about the museum, our mission, and our work,” Higgins said. “Through 250Lex events and outreach we have been able to introduce the museum to new audiences, develop stronger community partnerships, and acquire, through donation, new objects to continue to tell Lexington’s stories.”

The city’s celebration had an impact on tourism to as well.

According to Mary Quinn Ramer, executive director of VisitLex, the 250Lex month of June was themed as “Come Home” month, and saw a boom in people visiting the city. Hotel occupancy rates increased by 4.2%, and VisitLex’s social media campaign was viewed more than half a million times.

Locally, as residents were encouraged to invite family and friends to come to the city, VisitLex handed out more than 350 host packages for people to decorate their homes and welcome visitors. Sales at VisitLex were up 56%, she said, and foot traffic to the visitors center set records for the year twice.

“We loved how much our locals embraced inviting friends and family back to Lexington during our 250th year. Lexingtonians are wonderful ambassadors for our city, and we appreciate their enthusiasm in sharing our city with our visitors,” Ramer said.

The celebration was a success for the business community as well, Commerce Lexington’s president and CEO Bob Quick said. In August, 250Lex focused on business through signature events, like a special night at the Lexington Legends ballpark, a weeklong Salute to Small Business awards celebrations and a LexTalk History podcast with the Lexington History Museum focusing on the history of business in the city.

“The 250Lex celebration enabled us to shine a light on the impact that business and industry have on our economy, with special recognition to those historical businesses who celebrated milestone anniversaries,” Quick said. “Since Lexington’s founding, the business community has been integral to so many key moments throughout our history and shaped what we’ve become today.”

One of the most rewarding elements of the year, Cornett said, was seeing the community come together.

“We should all be extremely proud of this city, but this city has nowhere reached its potential,” he said. “If we can continue to work together like we did this year … we’re going to have a great future to look forward to.”

Have a question or story idea related to Lexington’s 250-year history? Let us know at 250LexKy@gmail.com.