Coming Home: Why the Old Timers Celebration Still Matters

There are few events that feel like coming home the moment you arrive. The Old Timers Celebration is one of them.

This year, from July 31 through August 2, generations of Lincoln Grant alumni, family members, neighbors, and friends will once again gather in Covington for an emphatically jubilant homecoming that honors the people, places, and stories that helped shape our community.

Growing up in Covington, I learned early that history doesn't only live in museums or textbooks. It lives on front porches, around family dinner tables, inside church pews, and in the memories of those who came before us. The Old Timers Celebration has always been one of the places where those memories are shared, protected, and passed on.

For nearly four decades, this celebration has served as a reminder that Lincoln Grant School was a building of learning but also a heart of a community. It was a place where Black teachers inspired excellence, where lifelong friendships were formed, and where young people were taught not only how to read and write, but how to lead with dignity, resilience, and pride.

As someone whose work is dedicated to uncovering and preserving Black history throughout Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, I see the Old Timers Celebration as something much larger than an annual event. It is an act of cultural preservation. Every conversation, every shared photograph, every laugh between classmates, and every story told to a younger generation becomes another thread in the fabric of our collective memory.

That's why I hope this year's celebration brings together not only alumni, but children, grandchildren, neighbors, and anyone who values the history of our city. Community traditions only survive when each generation chooses to inherit them.

In a time when neighborhoods continue to evolve and our lives move faster than ever, gatherings like this remind us to slow down and reconnect with our history, with one another, and with the values that built communities like East Covington and the Lincoln-Grant family.

So whether you're returning after many years or attending for the very first time, I encourage you to come with an open heart. Listen to the stories. Shake a few hands. Reconnect with old friends. Meet someone whose journey began decades before yours. You'll leave with a deeper appreciation for the remarkable people who helped build Covington into the city we know today.

I'll see you there. Because some traditions aren't meant to fade…they're meant to be celebrated, protected, and passed on.