We hope you have noticed that over the last year, we have been blanketing the municipality with requests for your input on everything from parking to development density as part of our Comprehensive Plan. The plan, which is explained in detail at www.ascendlebo.com, will create a blueprint for progress over the next 10 years.

In one of the most recent online surveys regarding community engagement, we asked what events you have recently attended, in hopes of gauging how involved you are with Mt. Lebanon and how welcome people feel. Of the 558 responses to the question, the number one answer to the event attendance question was the Uptown Market, which runs every Saturday in May through October from 9 a.m. to noon, on Washington Road. With many opportunities to visit and lots of great vendors, we are not surprised it is so well loved.

What you may not know is how much time and planning goes into each event and program. It takes years of experience and months of work to make sure everything goes off well. And even then, Mother Nature can wreak havoc—so we need to have plans for that, too.

In the survey, we also asked people if they don’t attend events, what are the reasons? The top five reasons, in order, are: not interested, prior commitment, did not know about it, inconvenient time/date and weather.

So let’s tackle reason number three right away. While we aren’t able to make announcements for most school district events (school performances/events were the second most popular community event attended), we can do a better job of our municipal event notifications to be sure you don’t miss out on anything you want to do or see.

In Stephanie Hacke’s story about municipal event planning, she gets to the bottom of how we plan our biggest events (Uptown Market, Fourth of July, summer camps and programs). Read it and find out what you absolutely MUST sign up for the minute registrations open if you want a shot at getting in.

It’s always such a great feeling to go to the Mt. Lebanon Fourth of July community day festivities and fireworks. My family and I always like to spend the day at the pool, go home and shower and wander back up for the concert, and finally take in the fireworks from a blanket on the high school stadium turf. We’re grateful to the hundreds of people behind the scenes making those memories happen for us.

Laura Pace Lilley, Editor in Chief
lpace@mtlebanon.org / 412-343-3552