A church in the heart of the city, with a heart for the city

Lexington’s ‘pop-up’ festivals connect students, teachers, churches, community agencies

October 06, 2026

[Episcopal News Service] The Diocese of Lexington, with backing from The Episcopal Church’s United Thank Offering, is strengthening a partnership between families, schools, churches and community organizations around “pop-up” family festivals in low-income neighborhoods of Lexington, Kentucky. Grace United Lutheran Episcopal Church has taken the lead in organizing the pop-up events with neighborhood schools and the church’s ecumenical and community partners. The events typically are scheduled on weeknights in the center of an apartment complex or housing development on the south side of Lexington. Church volunteers set up craft projects, sidewalk chalk, games, food, music and other activities. The schools provide additional volunteers, including teachers. And community groups and agencies set up booths with information on resources and services, such as health clinics, employment assistance and federal nutrition assistance programs. “We wanted to be part of this because it lets us be in the community,” Dawn Webb, a Grace United lead organizer, told Episcopal News Service. She said she and other organizers take the approach of working with residents, rather than merely delivering services to them. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, organizers say. Carisa Lipp, a family resource coordinator with Tates Creek Elementary School, told ENS that the school was eager to partner with Grace United because it offered a less formal way to invite parents to meet their children’s teachers. In surveying families, school administrators learned that some parents didn’t feel comfortable entering institutional settings like school buildings. “We have this issue, a lot of parents don’t want to come into the schools,” Lipp said. So, the administrators thought, “Why don’t we bring the [school] community to them?” The first pop-up event was held in March 2025, at an apartment complex across from Millcreek Elementary School. That site now hosts events two or three times a year, and other sites have been added. The event schedule now is filled with two to four pop-ups a month from March through October. Organizers have focused on a zone of the school district that includes five elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. A majority of students’ family incomes qualify them for reduced-cost or free school meals. These families face a range of challenges, Webb said, including inadequate public transportation and lack of easy access to community resources and activities. The pop-up events help to bring activities and community agencies to the families where they live. Webb described the atmosphere as a small festival in the middle of the apartment buildings, sometimes centered around a playground. The set-up team plans to invest in better, more permanent gear for the events with the help of the $20,191 UTO grant, one of 25 grants awarded during this year’s UTO cycle, totaling nearly $1 million. The pop-up events also have been welcomed by teachers, who otherwise wouldn’t have the same opportunities to engage so closely with their students’ families, said Joanie Louis, the family resource coordinator at Millcreek Elementary School. Strengthening those connections can make a big difference in a child’s education, Louis said. “That’s a positive for the teachers, to meet the students in their own environment … to see them for who they are.” – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.