News About Celebrating 100 Years of Lake Decatur

July 2023 marks 100 Years of Lake Decatur! Please join us at the Centennial Lake Fest & grand opening of the “Staley Basin” – July 8 & 9, 2023. This two-day event will feature tons of activities in the Marina and along the lake front. 100 Years of Lake Decatur is a collaboration between the City of Decatur, Decatur Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, Decatur Park District, and Staley Family Foundation. Join us to honor the first 100 years of Lake Decatur and build new connections for the community and the next 100 years.
Activities include (list will be updated):
- Food Trucks
- FREE family activities
- Boat Parade
- Local arts & history
- Guinness World Record attempt!
We are very thankful to our partner – the Staley Family Foundation. Without the vision of A. E. Staley, there may not have been a lake at all! To honor them, we will rename basin 3 – the “Staley Basin” and will have a ceremony during the Lake Fest. We thank them for supporting this event and future watershed initiatives to protect our Lake for the future!
Follow our Facebook event page! – www.facebook.com/CentennialLakeFest/
100 Years of History
As you can imagine, there is a lot of history that happened throughout the first 100 years of Lake Decatur’s existence. We will honor that history with weekly posts on the City of Decatur’s Facebook page up until the Centennial Lake Fest in July. They will also be posted on our website here. (coming soon)
The weekly posts certainly won’t cover all the history! For additional historical posts, and to share your own, check out our separate Facebook group.
If you are unable to upload your pictures/documents, you can visit the Staley Museum or the Decatur Public Library History Room during regular business hours and they will help with your Lake history submission.
Wanna be Involved? Volunteer? Belong to a Civic Organization? Have a Food Truck? In a Band? Get in touch with event organizer Stephanie Endsley – stephanie@havingaball.com