Lexington, Ky. - With the dust from last fall's abundance of city-wide activity having only recently settled, the Spotlight Legacy Committee announced today that the popular downtown event Spotlight Lexington will return in 2011, during the 10-day period of September 23 - October 2.
"In the first year, it was an incredible success," Kip Cornett, president of Cornett Marketing and chairman of the Spotlight Lexington Committee, said at Thursday's press conference. "We feel like it's something we can build on to make even more successful."
Spotlight Lexington 2010 was a 17-day downtown entertainment festival spearheaded by the mayor's office to coincide with the World Equestrian Games, which took place in Lexington last year. The festival included vendors, local entertainment and a diverse array of free performances by regional and national acts, from jazz trombonist Trombone Shorty to country pop star Blake Shelton. This year's event, while outside the jurisdiction of the city government, will largely draw from that model, though it will be completely funded by the private sector and equipped with a number of additional changes from last year as well.
"We're looking at compacting several things and expanding in other ways -compacting in venues, compacting in days," Cornett said. "Obviously we will not have the World Equestrian Games back in 2011, so [we are shortening] it up to a 10-day period, which we think will make it even more successful.
"We're looking at the physical layout, to make it a little more compact and tighter as well," he added. While the courthouse plaza and Cheapside Park areas will still be central to this year's event - hosting free, nightly concerts during the festival - the committee is looking into the option of promoting ticketed events at local venues under the umbrella of Spotlight Lexington as well.
Other aspects of the event that the Spotlight Legacy Committee is looking to improve on this year include increasing the availability of "Kentucky-flavored food and cultural options," Cornett said, adding that he hopes that more local restaurants and products will be featured at this year's event.
As for entertainment, nothing is booked yet, but the entertainment committee, headed up by Tom Martin, founder of the Lexington Area Music Foundation, editor of Business Lexington and a local musician whose band performed at last year's Spotlight Lexington, is focusing on keeping the headliners accessible to a large and diverse crowd, while incorporating local acts in the line-up as well.
"Having the experience of getting to perform on a stage like that, in a professional setting, under professional lighting and a professional sound system, before really enthusiastic, supportive crowds, is incredibly encouraging to a (local) musician," Martin said. "We want to bottle that and make it happen again this year."
The Spotlight Legacy Committee, which was created by community members interested in seeing the festival continue, has set a budget of $500,000 for the 10-day event, with St. Joseph Hospital having once again signed on as presenting sponsor.
Cornett expects to announce more sponsors, events and entertainment in the coming weeks.