In 1966 the Jeffersontown Restoration Society led by Peggy Weber and Petra Williams were remodeling Jefersontown's town square. Jeffersontown had just built a new City Hall building in the
Federal style and the Restoration Society was able to convince business owners on the town square to remodel their store fronts in the same style. During a separate renovation at a local church one of the original
gaslights that lined the town square until 1912 was found under a stairwell. This prompted several replica gaslights to be built and installed in the newly renovated town square and eventually led to the town square's current name; Gaslight Square. To showcase the new renovations and promote the businesses there a festival was held. The inaugural Gaslight Festival was held on June 7, 1970, immediately preceding the Jeffersontown Community Fair scheduled for June 10–13. Although the festival was originally conceived to promote the Gaslight Square it was decided by Mayor Franklin Chambers that the square was too new and clean to risk throwing a party there. Instead it was held at J-Town Center. and included a parade that went from City Hall to the Jeffersontown Community Center and carnival rides. The 28th festival celebrated the bicentennial, in 1997. Today the festival is a ten-day event beginning in early September and attracts over 200,000 visitors. Making it the second largest festival in
Kentucky behind the
Kentucky State Fair, fifth largest in the region, and in the top 20 in the
southeast. After being mostly virtual during 2020 in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic the live events were reinstated in 2021. ==Official events==