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It’s the first day of classes for several area school districts, including Hardin County Schools.

“We are tremendously excited to welcome our more than 14,000 students into our school buildings this year,” said HCS Community Relations Specialist John Wright. “It’s going to be a fun year, a year full of opportunities for our students to excel at every level – elementary and preschool through middle school to high school. Our students will receive lots of dual credit hours, they’ll receive extracurricular opportunities, and opportunities to learn in new and exciting ways.”

The district is encouraging students to be a #HCSDifferenceMaker, based on the five competencies in the district’s portrait of a learner.

“We look at things like being a responsible citizen, a personal champion, an engaged learner, an effective communicator, and an active collaborator,” Wright said. “Those are the things that we are really focusing on for our students this year, and really hoping that they understand it. It takes all those things, all those competencies, to succeed not only in school, but in life.”

Wright says the ultimate goal is to help students succeed.

“We want our students to be the best they can be when they walk across that graduation stage at the end of their senior year,” Wright said.

Follow Hardin County Schools on Facebook for information and updates.

The City of Elizabethtown August Lawn Party at the Lake event will be happening Wednesday evening.

The August event, which is part of a summer-long series hosted by the city, will get under way at the bandstand at Freeman Lake Park at 6:30 p.m.

This month’s concert will feature the Northern Kentucky-based Kentucky Symphony Orchestra’s 10-piece subsidiary group the Devou-Doo Daddies. Their performance is titled “Get Movin’ (Feet Don’t Fail Me Now) Millennial Versus Gen Z Swing.” The orchestra says 1990s swing revival takes on 2020s hip-hop infused swing during the show.

Elizabethtown Events Manager Beth Pyles says each Lawn Party event offers food vendors, and while outside alcohol is not permitted alcoholic beverages will be on sale at the lake.

“The concert series is totally free and family friendly,” Pyles said. “The gates will open at 5.30 p.m. and the acts will take the stage around 6.30, so it gives you a little bit of time to come in and get seated. It is festival style seating, so we ask that people bring lawn chairs, you can bring blankets. We will have picnic tables, but it’s very, very casual.”

Pyles said the first year for the concert series was a successful one, and in 2024 there’s nowhere to go but up.

“We had such a wonderful turnout last year after we got through the rain, but we’re very, very excited,” Pyles said. “The bandstand at Freeman Lake is such a beautiful fixture in our community. If you haven’t been out to see it, it is the perfect place to relax after a hard day, and we’re really excited.”

Follow the Elizabethtown City Events Facebook page for more information and updates.

The Elizabethtown City Council met for their first meeting of the month Monday.

The council approved on second reading an ordinance that approves general obligation bonds for city projects.

“This ordinance authorizes the issuance of, not to exceed, $11 million of the city’s general obligation bonds,” said City Attorney Ken Howard, reading from the ordinance. “This will be series 2024, to be issued for the purpose of financing the acquisition, construction, and equipment of a new fire station, a police station expansion, and other public projects.”

The term of the bond repayment is not to exceed 25 years.

The council approved a contract with Congleton-Hacker company of Lexington for construction management services on the outdoor music venue the city is constructing on Commerce Drive in partnership with the Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau. City Administrator Ed Poppe said this contract concerns pre-construction services only.

“We will use this construction management firm to work with the design firm and evaluate their design and say ‘Wait a minute, if you used a concrete wall instead of a block wall, you could save this kind of money. You could do these kinds of things.’ And then they will work through the design,” Poppe said.

The council also approved a contract with engineering firm Kimley-Horn for development of a sewer design plan for the Commerce Drive extension in the area of the outdoor music venue. Poppe said the plan is for the project’s design team to give an update to the council sometime in September.

In other meeting news, the council approved a resolution that supports renaming an area highway in memory of former Elizabethtown police officer Billy Edwards and his wife Kathy, who were killed in a motorcycle collision on July 14. 

E-Town Fire Chief Mark Malone, Mayor Jeff Gregory, and Human Resources Manager Barbara Jones were each presented with the Kentucky National Guard’s Service Member Patriot Award, which recognizes an employer’s support of an employee that is serving in the Guard. Elizabethtown firefighter and Sergeant Major Seth Carter nominated the three as a way of showing his appreciation.

“The firefighters took care of my wife, the Army took care of my wife, made sure my kids were okay, all that good stuff, and I felt like it was something that needs to be bestowed upon our great city,” Carter said. “Just like the mayor said, I believe that this is the greatest city, and I believe that the Kentucky Army National Guard and the fire department, they’re two parts of my fabric. They are weaved inside of me and make me who I am.”

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet August 12.