Bolivar celebrates its bicentennial with a homecoming

A display of historic carriages, live music, a variety of food and a porch-decorating contest will all be part of the Bolivar Bicentennial Homecoming Celebration June 8 on Canal Street. The bicentennial events are sponsored by the Bolivar Main Street Association.

This year is the 200th birthday of the village that was originally settled in 1825 as a shipping center along the Ohio and Erie Canal. An aqueduct was built west of Bolivar to carry canal traffic across the Tusc River. Men who worked on “the big ditch” earned 30 cents a day and a jigger of whiskey for their labors.

The homecoming will be on the heels of the Strawberry Festival, so the festival’s tents will be used, and the food vendors will stay an extra day, as will many of the craft and business vendors.

“It will be reminiscent of an old-fashioned homecoming,” former Bolivar Mayor Rebecca Hubble said.

The festivities will begin at 11 a.m. with music by Ren in the main tent and kids activities in the south tent until 12:30 p.m.

“We’ll have all kinds of outdoor fun including oversized lawn games, a bubble machine and chalk for street drawings,” said Courtney Wallace, branch supervisor at the Bolivar Library. “When’s the last time the whole street has been blocked off like that so the kids can do chalk drawings?”

In the main tent at noon, a nondenominational church service will be conducted by the area’s ministerial association, after which music by Ren will resume.

Historic carriage display

One of the highlights of the day will be a display of historic carriages put together by Dr. Dale Duerr, who has amassed and restored quite a collection over the past 35-40 years.

“I’m bringing 12 carriages that go back almost to the era when Bolivar was founded, or at least to the late 1800s,” Duerr said. “I’ve got a four-passenger wagonette that would have been used to transport people who came into town on the train to a hotel.”

The carriages will be on display from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the parking lot by Huntington Bank at the corner of Canal and Poplar streets.

“I’ll also have some period clothing — mostly hats and jackets and things that can be easily slipped on and off — for people who would like to get in a carriage and have their photo taken in period dress.”

Duerr also will bring a display board that will feature photos of items that would have been used in the 1800s around the house and farm. Each item will be numbered so visitors can guess what the item is and its use.

Door decorating contest

Residents and businesses are invited to show their bicentennial spirit by decorating their porches, yards, doors and storefronts.

“We thought decorating was something people could do to participate leading up to the homecoming,” Wallace said.

“We also thought it would help the village look a little dressed-up for the Strawberry Festival,” local designer and photographer Holly Thouvenin said.

The contest is open to all residents and businesses within the Bolivar corporation limits. Judging will take place May 31 to June 3. Winners will be announced during the homecoming June 8, and each will receive $25 in prize money.

Bicentennial activities kicked off in January at the Bolivar Library with a presentation by Seth Angel on pioneer life featuring period attire. In March Duerr picked up the history where Angel left off with a presentation featuring nearly 100 slides.

A number of bicentennial souvenirs will be available for purchase during the Strawberry Festival and the day of the homecoming. Thouvenin updated a history of Bolivar booklet that was published by Friends of the Roy Parks Memorial Library in 2009. There also are ornaments and magnets that commemorate the village’s bicentennial, also designed by Thouvenin.

Thouvenin designed the bicentennial logo graphic, which captures 200 years of history in one place.

“I started with Simon Bolivar in uniform atop a horse,” Thouvenin said. “And, of course, we had to include a canalboat, and I wanted to represent the Delaware Indian Tribe that was in the area at the time. I also included a fort to represent Fort Laurens, a small village and an old barn for when Bolivar was more of a farming community. Oh, and strawberries of course.”

Thouvenin thanked the Bolivar Area Historical Society and George Baumgardner for supplying historical photos for the use in the print materials and online. Visit the Bolivar Bicentennial at Bolivar200 on Facebook.