Pickerington residents are invited to help make the city’s 200th birthday celebration the best party ever.
To mark the bicentennial milestone on Sept. 18, 2015, a committee of city leaders and volunteers has started planning a series of fun-filled events that will run January through October.
“Events like this create a sense of community. We want everyone to be involved in celebrating the bicentennial, whether it’s volunteering to help, being a sponsor, attending the various events or spending time at the museum learning Pickerington’s history,” said Mayor Lee Gray.
“It’s a milestone for our City, and what we do in 2015 will leave a lasting legacy for our future generations.”
The theme of the celebration is, appropriately, “It’s our birthday and we’re having a party.”
The 200th birthday bash begins in January with a formal kickoff event for sponsors.
The Presenting Sponsor for the celebration is OhioHealth, and Daimler Group is a Diamond Sponsor.
While the city has two major donors to get the party started, it still needs more support, said City Councilman Chris Schweitzer, who is on the Bicentennial Executive Committee and is the Marketing and Promotions Chair.
“Our goal is to be able to provide everyone throughout the community with the opportunity to take part in this event through participation, support, volunteer efforts or sponsorship … making it a true community endeavor,” said Schweitzer.
Sponsorship categories range from $500 to $30,000.
January will also begin the reign of the Pickerington Bicentennial Queen and her court.
While details of the competition were still being finalized at press time, two requirements have been set. The candidate must reside in the boundaries of the Pickerington Local School District and be of junior or senior high school status by the 2014-2015 school year.
The complete application and rules for the queen competition will be posted on the Bicentennial website at www.pick2015.com this fall.
Former mayors of Pickerington and Mayor Gray will take a look back in time when they open a time capsule on April 18, 2015.
The capsule was placed in front of City Hall when it was built.
The blast from the past will be followed by the burial of a new time capsule in the same location and the planting of a tree at Sycamore Creek Park as part of the city’s annual Arbor Day festivities.
The Pickerington-Violet Township Historical Society will set tables for an old-fashioned tea in May, and in July, the Pickerington Community Pool will make a splash, charging $2 – or 200 cents – for one day to celebrate the 200th birthday of the city.
The big party gets into full swing over Labor Day weekend on Saturday, Sept. 5.
Labor Day weekend has traditionally been the Pickerington “homecoming” and festivities usually coincide with the annual Lions Club Fish Fry and parade.
To add to the party, the Bicentennial Committee has hired SuperGames to bring in 14 giant inflatables and games, including a wacky obstacle course, a mechanical bull, laser tag, extreme air and vertical rush, a tree house slide, wacky bounce, monster truck inflatable, bouncy boxing, zoo playland, tiger bounce, and a photo booth.
A double zipline will stretch from one end of Victory Park to the other.
All the attractions will be open Sept. 5-6 from 2-10 p.m. and Sept. 7 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. For those who want to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground, there will also be bingo and games reminiscent of those played at early Pickerington homecomings.
Party games include pie-eating contests, a cornhole tournament, a yodeling contest and clothespin races.
Along with the games and a pet parade, the committee is looking into new musical entertainment for the celebration as well as bringing back an old homecoming tradition that is bound to be a knockout.
The Pickerington basketball courts in Victory Park will have residents ready to rumble with USAA-sanctioned boxing matches that feature up-and-coming professional athletes in the ring.
All the activities are bound to work up appetites, and while there will be many food vendors filling the City Hall parking lot, many residents cannot wait to catch the annual Lions Club Fish Fry, which will be in business all three days of the celebration instead of just one.
On Sunday, Sept. 6, the skies over Pickerington will light up with a spectacular fireworks display. On Monday, Sept. 7 – Labor Day – the Bicentennial Parade will step off with some magnificent 28-foot floats used in the Professional Football Hall of Fame Parade, bands, the queen and her court, and a trolley carrying the grand marshals for the parade: former Pickerington mayors and Mayor Gray.
Also on Monday, Pickerington may even make its mark in the record books as the Bicentennial Committee is looking into the possibility that residents may be able to break a Guinness World Record.
To celebrate the actual founding of the City, the Pickerington-Violet Township Historical Society will also hold a September banquet in honor of the day in 1815 when Abraham Pickering laid out the original plat of land that became Olde Pickerington Village.
The last of the Pickerington celebration will be a community worship service, which is expected to be held in October.
With any party, there are plenty of preparations in the works to make the birthday celebration the best one ever.
Anyone wishing to help sponsor the event should contact Schweitzer at cschweitzer@pickerington.net. And since every birthday requires party planners, volunteers are invited to contact Lynda Yartin at lyartin@pickerington.net.
With all the support from the community, by the time the last candle on the Pickerington Birthday cake is blown out and the last chorus of “Happy Birthday” is sung, the committee hopes that residents remember that Pickerington is not getting older – it’s getting even better!
