Pokemon, history, garden events planned in York

Are you trying to catch 'em all?

The historical sites of York City, that is.

If you don't get that reference, congratulations — you aren't a Millennial. What it means is that the York County History Center this Saturday will host a "Pokewalk," which is a guided walking tour of the city that's geared toward players of the smartphone-app game Pokemon Go.

This is one of several free events happening around the city this weekend.

The game used a bunch of the historical sites around York and other parts of the country for "Pokestops" in the augmented-reality game, so the latest offering from the Nintendo series actually already incentives people to seek out cool places around town, said Dan Roe, the history center's vice president of interpretation.

"They used a lot of information out there to tag a lot these interesting buildings for communities," Roe said. "They're really encouraging folks to go out and explore their local community."

The game, which involves a lot of walking around, uses players' locations as determined by their phones' GPS services. Capturable Pokemon pop up periodically on the players' phones, and players are supposed to swing by the Pokestops, which are usually at interesting places, and Pokemon gyms, which often are at churches. The Pokestops give players supplies in the game, while people use their Pokemon to battle for control over the gyms.

The the newly renamed York County History Center is taking advantage of this, starting a walk at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Martin Library at 159 E. Market St. in York City. Participants in the free event will walk around Market and Philadelphia streets for about an hour, when they'll end up at a previously planned history center event: Colonial York Day.

That event will be held in the 100 block of West Market Street, by the city's Colonial Complex, featuring the Colonial Courthouse, Gen. Horatio Gates' home and the Golden Plough Tavern — at least a couple of which are Pokestops, Roe believes. Inspired by the 275th anniversary of York's founding, it'll feature historical re-enactors portraying Revolutionary War soldiers, craftspeople from the time and the big guy himself, George Washington, Roe said.

"We haven't had a living-history festival in a few years," he said. "We wanted to hold something larger in the summer."

The old-timey craftsmen will talk about the trades of gunsmithing, distillery and tobacco rolling, according to a news release. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Also going on around the city that day is the unveiling of the "Royal Square Garden" at 110 S. Howard St. in the Royal Square area. The garden, which will be the subject of a 1 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony, will grow food for local organizations such as the York Rescue Mission, according to a news release.

The release states that various merchants and artists will be able to use the space, which will be unveiled as part of the Summer Art Market, which will bring dozens of merchants and musical acts to the area Saturday and Sunday afternoons and evenings. Saturday will bring the bands Quilt and Strand of Oaks to the neighborhood to preform, according to the event website.