Planning begins for Decatur County’s bicentennial celebration
Posted on Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 10:00 am
With Decatur County’s Bicentennial celebration coming up next April, members of local government and the community have begun to come together to develop specific events and plans for the historic occasion. The Bicentennial planning committee met at the Joe L. Sweet Community Center last Tuesday afternoon for one such meeting, led by Roslyn Palmer.
According to Palmer, the festivities will run from April 18 to 23, Tuesday through Sunday. “We start at 5:30 on Tuesday afternoon, April 18, with a big birthday party, a huge cake,” he said. “We’re talking about the mayor and the county commission cutting the cake around 6:30.” She continued: “It’s going to be several big cakes together and frosted like one big cake. We’re going to have it very family-friendly, there’s going to be some food trucks, live music, bounce houses. It’s just a fun way to kick off and start.”
The BHS Jazz Band and Choir are then scheduled to provide the music on Wednesday, along with a brown bag lunch.
Next, Thursday’s central event will be a bicentennial-themed parade, with judges judging the different floats. “We’re not going to throw beads, we’re not going to throw candy,” Palmer said. “It will be an old parade. “
Friday there will be a rocking chair contest at Willis Park that night. “You swing until you can’t anymore,” Palmer continued. A street dance will also accompany the evening festivities.
The town center will have an old-fashioned theme on Saturday, as well as window dressing judging. “That night, probably around 7:00, we’re going to have a historic production pageant,” he said. The production is currently still in the works, with the help of the folks at Swamp Gravy, and is scheduled to be held in the Boat Basin Performing Arts Building.
On Sunday the participating churches will have a theme similar to the old one. “We’re asking them, we’re hoping they’ll sing old hymns, dress up old, have dinner on the floor if they want to,” Palmer said. “Someone at one of our meetings mentioned that there was a community choir singing that afternoon. Nothing has been done about that yet, it’s just an idea that has been thrown out.”
Other possible party ideas that have been suggested include a game of Decatur County Jeopardy, a beard contest and even a week-long scavenger hunt.
“It’s definitely going to take a lot of manpower to make this happen,” Palmer said. “I was at the university during the sesquicentennial of ’73. I came home one weekend of the two-weekend event, there were hundreds of volunteers to make it happen.”
If anyone wants to help with the celebration, planning meetings are scheduled for the last Tuesday of each month; this month’s meeting is scheduled for 5:30pm on September 27th at the Joe L. Sweet Community Center.
