East Petersburg Days provides an ideal opportunity for residents to celebrate their community while showing neighbors what makes it a special place.

The annual event will be held Tuesday, Sept. 16, through Saturday, Sept. 20, at East Petersburg Community Park, 2575 Graystone Road.

Rides will open at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 to Friday, Sept. 19, and at 3 p.m. on Sept. 20. Wristbands can be purchased at http://www.eastpetersburgday.com. Houghton Enterprises will provide the rides and sell food.

There will be live music beginning at 6 p.m. from Wednesday, Sept. 17, through Sept. 20. On Sept. 17, Andora will return for the third year. Composed of East Petersburg residents, Andora performs '70s and '80s music. The Big Big Jazz Band, an East Petersburg Days staple, will perform on Thursday, Sept. 18. Sept. 19 is Kids' Day, highlighted by a musical show by Steven Courtney. There will be an opening ceremony. The East Petersburg Elementary School PTO will have activities for children, and there will also be alpacas and vendors on-site.

On Sept. 20, the day will begin with a Kids' Fun Run at 8:30 a.m., followed by the Totally '80s 5K at 9 a.m. There will be music and prizes for the best dressed runners and top overall finishers and in each age group. Registrations can be made on the website and will be accepted the morning of the events. "Every year it continues to grow, and we have more interesting costumes than the year before," East Petersburg Days chair Kristin Troop said. "Whether you're a runner or a walker, it's a great course for everybody."

The East Petersburg Day committee is partnering with the East Petersburg-Landisville Lions Club for the parade up Manheim Pike, which will start at 10 a.m. The rides will also open at 3 p.m. and close at 10 p.m. "Whether you're young or old and there's rides that can accommodate all the age," said Troop.

A golf ball drop will he held at 6 p.m. with the help of the East Petersburg Fire Department. There will be cash prizes. Tickets can be purchased online or in person.  

Local band PopScotch will play music from the '80s to the current time from 6 to 9:30 p.m. A fireworks display will start at 9:30 p.m.

"Some of the things that we're most excited about are our sponsors that are in our community. Lancaster Toyota has been a big sponsor. Dinse Dental, S. Clyde Weaver, and Aubrey Montgomery from State Farm have been our top sponsors this year, making all of these events come to life," said Troop. "Once we get through East Pete Days, we have two more events, our Pumpkin Fest in October and Santa in the Park, so without them, we really couldn't be doing what we're doing. We're excited about some of the new renovations happening in our park that will only make our events really come to life at some point. It's been a great year of planning all of these events and getting everything to fall into place. The things that we get so excited about are just that the communities have a space to come together, see old friends, neighbors, catch up with people, and just have a nice event that's right in our backyard."

East Petersburg Days began in 1989 as a one-day fundraiser and continues to be a source of community pride. "One of the things that I think is so exciting is that we really try to incorporate our East Petersburg Fire Department, our East Petersburg PTO into our events and the Lions Club as well, to help us create this whole community spirit," said Troop. "We have the Boy Scouts that will help with the 5K cleanup and the water station. Even our band on Wednesday night is all a group of local guys from high school and growing up in East Petersburg. So that is one of the things where we like our small little community, and we also like sharing it with a community around us as well."

The event is also an opportunity to draw attention to East Petersburg Community Park. "We love to showcase our green space," Troop said. "We do find that it's a little hidden gem in Hempfield, so we'd love to bring people out and create just these environments and these opportunities for people to come together."