East Petersburg will hold its annual Summerfest event on Friday, July 11, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. in East Petersburg Community Park, 2575 Graystone Road.

Simply Greek, Scoops, and the East Petersburg-Landisville Lions Club will have food trucks on-site. Josie's Pub of East Petersburg will host a beer garden. The event will be held rain or shine. Visitors should bring blankets and lawn chairs for seating. Attendees can even bring a a pop-up tent, said Kristin Troop, who is the chair of the East Petersburg Events Committee.

Summerfest had been held on a Saturday in the past. "We've had different iterations of this event," Troop said. "The last two years, we've hosted the Uptown Band from Philadelphia. This year, we changed things up and moved it to a Friday night. We're trying to think of different ways to bring in the community."

This year, local band Modern Day Pharaohs will perform in the park's Lancaster Toyota Amphitheater. Modern Day Pharaohs is a three-man band made up of guitar player Shawn Gallagher, drummer Shawn O'Neal, and bassist Scott Kinsey. Gallagher and Kinsey handle most of the vocals, along with some help from O'Neal.

"We only have three members, so there's no place to hide," Gallagher said. "We're an instrumentally sparse operation, so we try to make it interesting with quirky arrangements."

The trio has been performing together for 35 years. Gallagher and Kinsey had been part of a four-man band. In 1990, when Gallagher returned to the area from Penn State and Kinsey came back from Bucknell, they joined with O'Neal to become a three-man group.

Gallagher said the band plays a "melodic garage band sound" popularized in the 1980s and '90s by Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, The Replacements, and R.E.M.

"Over 35 years, we've added some songs to our set list," Gallagher said. "We have a handful of originals, but we own our role as a cover band. We have to rework some of the songs because we only have three members, and we have fun with that."

Gallagher lives in Mountville, and his three children attended Hempfield High School. "East Petersburg is right in my backyard, and I am looking forward to having a lot of family and friends there," Gallagher said. "It's a great spot for a gig with a good sound system, and hopefully there will be beautiful weather."

The Lancaster Toyota Amphitheater was completed in 2018. "Since then, we've been able to host a lot more music events," Troop said. "That's our goal: to create free family events in our park for our community and surrounding areas."

Troop noted that thanks to sponsors like Lancaster Toyota and S. Clyde Weaver, the East Petersburg Events Committee is able to host a variety of free events.

Troop said that while Summerfest is designed for adults, a food truck event at the park on Friday night, Aug. 8, will appeal to kids. The start time has not yet been determined.

The East Petersburg Events Committee is partnering with the East Petersburg Fire Company for the food truck event, and children will be able to explore fire apparatus. Live music will be supplied by local band Vinyl Ventures.

The annual Blues Fest will be held in the park from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30. Six bands will perform, and local brewery Mad Chef will host a beer garden.

East Petersburg Days, the highlight of the events schedule, will be held Tuesday, Sept. 16, to Saturday, Sept. 20.

"Our goal is to create these events for people to come out, meet your neighbors, see your friends, and get to know what's in the community," said Troop. "We have a really nice park in East Petersburg."

Go to http://www.eastpetersburgday.com for more information about East Petersburg events.