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Planning underway for Williamsburg’s bicentennial celebration
A parade, a tour of historical homes and a historical picture show are just some of the events Williamsburg has planned in the month of April to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of Whitley County.
“Next year is our 200th birthday. We are getting geared up,” Mayor Roddy Harrison told the city council Monday.
Most of the city’s celebration will take place during the month of April because this is when talks officially began in 1818 at Samuel Cox’s house about founding the county with Williamsburg as the county seat.
There will be a historical picture slide show that will run throughout April in the city council meeting room at city hall.
There will be a dedication for a Samuel Cox memorial, an ice cream social, a 5-K run/walk, and reenactments of a revolutionary war encampment and a fur trade camp encampment. There are also efforts underway to get Native American and civil war encampments.
A haunted tour around town is planned in addition to a tour of historical homes.
There will be an admission charge for the historical tours, and proceeds will go to benefit the Williamsburg Police Department Shop with a Cop program.
A dedication ceremony is also planned for the Hall of Mayors, which will be located in the city council meeting room and include portraits of past mayors.
Harrison said the effort to get pictures of past mayors started with summer workers in his office, but that Gina Harrison has since taken it over.
“Gina has worked really hard. It has become a labor of love for her,” Harrison added.
The Whitley County Fiscal Court is planning events throughout 2018 to celebrate the county’s founding.
The Whitley County Cooperative Extension Service is also planning events.
