Happy Birthday, Liberty Hill!

by Charlotte Kovalchuk • photos courtesy of City of Liberty Hill

CITY COMMEMORATES MILESTONE WITH TIME CAPSULE

This month, Liberty Hill will celebrate its 25th birthday by burying a time capsule filled with mementos ranging from old festival posters and restaurant menus to special items submitted by citizens. “We wanted something really special to commemorate 25 years,” Director of Community Engagement & Communications Katie Amsler says. “People forget how young Liberty Hill is compared to other cities around us. We’re still babies, but we’ve come such a long way in 25 years. We want to celebrate not only our progression, but also what we have to look forward to in the future.”

The capsule will be buried at Central Park on Stubblefield Lane during a private ceremony March 23 and it will include current housing statistics and prices from a local Realtor, today’s Chamber membership prices and directory, local restaurant menus, previous festival posters and T-shirts, a Lodge coin from the Liberty Hill Masonic Lodge, and a fossilized rock found on the Vaughn family property. The capsule will also include a current city budget and photos from Home Rule Charter Committee meetings. Katie is especially excited about the Home Rule Charter, which signifies a major growth milestone for Liberty Hill. Cities are allowed to adopt a home rule charter, a municipal constitution that allows leadership to make decisions based on local needs, once the city population reaches 5,000.

As well, the city recently completed a comprehensive plan that is set to guide Liberty Hill through 2040, the same year the time capsule will be opened. “Sixteen years is an odd time but a good time because it symbolizes the end of the era. I’m hoping by then that we’ll have a new comprehensive plan, or it will hopefully be a reminder to city leaders that it’s time to create a new comprehensive plan,” Katie says.

City Celebration

Join the City of Liberty Hill in celebrating its birthday on Saturday, March 23 by visiting local participating restaurants, where you can enjoy birthday drink specials, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, served in commemorative glasses. If you order a drink special, you can take home the glass to keep as a cherished memento of the occasion. While at the restaurant, make a toast to the city in honor of its 25th birthday and post it on social media with #CheersTo25Years. City staff will choose their favorite public photo and feature it on the billboard at the US 183 and SH 29 intersection for one week. So far, the list of participating restaurants includes Whiskey Barrel Pub, Agape BBQ, Thirsty Penguin, Texas Taco Kitchen, Liberty Tavern, Forrest Coffee House, and The Daily Blend. Follow Experience LHTX on Facebook for updates on participating restaurants and drink special options.

Reflecting on Liberty Hill’s first quarter century, Katie highlights the city’s transformation over the years. “We hear all the time from people living here that the town is growing up around them. Everything’s so different, but at the same time, despite all this growth, we’re committed to keeping this small-town culture alive. I think people move to Liberty Hill because they want those small-town values, and even though we’re grown up we still have that. In the next 25 years, we’ll see a lot more growth, but no matter what our population sign says, we will always call Liberty Hill the small town with a big heart.”