# Water for Life Festival at Gatton Park Celebrates Community Resource **Published:** 2026-07-13T19:48:48.000Z **Source:** [LFUCG General News](https://www.lexingtonky.gov/news/water-life-festival-gatton-park-july-19) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) **Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/water-for-life-festival-at-gatton-park-celebrates-community-resource LEXINGTON, Ky. — The [Division of Water Quality will host Water for Life on July 19](https://www.lexingtonky.gov/news/water-life-festival-gatton-park-july-19) at [Gatton Park](https://gattonpark.org/), a free family-friendly festival showcasing water as a vital community resource. The event, scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m. at 795 Manchester Street, will feature education booths with games and giveaways, local brewery offerings from Next Round Brewing, and a fire truck, organizers said. Visitors will have the opportunity to see [Town Branch Creek, Lexington's original water source](https://www.weku.org/off-the-beaten-path-with-sam-dick/2025-05-30/gatton-park-on-town-branch), flowing through the downtown park. The festival is being held as part of the Kentucky-Tennessee Water Professionals Conference, which [brings water professionals to Lexington in 2026](https://kytnwpc.swoogo.com/WPC26) to discuss drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater issues. The [Water Professionals Conference is the largest annual water technical conference and exhibition in Kentucky and Tennessee](https://www.cleanwaterprofessionals.org/ky_tn_wpc.php). The Young Professionals Committee is inviting local families to participate in water-focused activities to give back to the community. [Gatton Park, which opened in August 2025](https://gattonpark.org/), transformed a former parking lot behind Rupp Arena into an 11-acre downtown greenspace. The park features restored portions of Town Branch Creek, which [once powered mills and distilleries in the 1800s but became hidden under the city in culverts by the 1930s](https://www.weku.org/off-the-beaten-path-with-sam-dick/2025-05-30/gatton-park-on-town-branch). The event was made possible through partnerships between Lexington's Division of Water Quality and Kentucky American Water, along with sponsors, exhibitors, and volunteer planners. ## Sources - [LFUCG General News](https://www.lexingtonky.gov/news/water-life-festival-gatton-park-july-19) - [Gatton Park official website](https://gattonpark.org/) - [2026 KY/TN Water Professionals Conference information](https://kytnwpc.swoogo.com/WPC26) - [Clean Water Professionals conference details](https://www.cleanwaterprofessionals.org/ky_tn_wpc.php) - [WEKU feature on Gatton Park and Town Branch history](https://www.weku.org/off-the-beaten-path-with-sam-dick/2025-05-30/gatton-park-on-town-branch) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from LFUCG General News, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://www.lexingtonky.gov/news/water-life-festival-gatton-park-july-19.