Holmes County Bicentennial schedule taking shape

The Holmes County Bicentennial Anniversary Celebration is right around the corner, and creating a lineup of memorable ways to honor the past and look forward to what lies ahead in the future continues to take shape.

Celebrating 200 years as a county and doing it right can be an exhausting undertaking, filled with a lot of footwork for a hard-working committee that wants to ensure Holmes County’s history is celebrated properly. Melissa Patrick, Holmes County Historical Society member and chairperson for the Holmes County Bicentennial Celebration Committee, said the slate of activities is now just about completed.

“We’ve worked hard to build this up into a day that will be both exciting and memorable, that should be loads of fun for families, and more importantly, it will definitely pay homage to everything that our county has experienced over the past 200 years,” Patrick said.

The June 29 celebration will include myriad events for the upcoming Holmes County 200th anniversary bash this summer including Thunder Over Holmes County’s massive fireworks display that, thanks to the Holmes County commissioners, will be bigger and better than ever.

The biggest focus on the day will be the grand parade that will kick off at noon. Much like it was back in former days, a vibrant grand parade was the backbone of any celebration, which is why the parade is so important to the committee.

At approximately 3 p.m. in the Holmes County Courthouse common pleas room, there will be a gathering of all elected officials in Holmes County and any officials and dignitaries from the state who have been invited to attend.

“We’ve sent out a lot of invites to a lot of important people including the governor, and this will be a time where they can speak about Holmes County, give proclamations and share this special moment together,” Patrick said.

Following that will be another highlight, a professional video created by Holmes County’s own Bronson Allison, creator of LiveMoreTV, who is in the process of crafting a video of the county’s past 200 years.

“We’ve gathered some truly fascinating details and photos from the past that will create a beautiful video of who and what Holmes County is,” Patrick said. “Bronson is such a talented professional when it comes to making these videos that it should be something we as a county can be proud of.”

Finding details to create the video has been the easy part. Patrick said paring it down to a manageable time frame has meant having to leave out many important people, events and details she found interesting.

“In writing the history, it’s amazing what I learned, and trying to trim it down to a 20-minute video was excruciating,” Patrick said. “There’s so much rich history here.”

The video will then be available for other festivals to showcase throughout the coming year as the county continues to celebrate its 200th anniversary.

“One thing we wanted to do was create avenues to celebrate our bicentennial at many events throughout the coming year,” Patrick said. “Early American Days, the county fair, the Antique Festival, and any local town and festival can use this as part of their celebration, and we can include everyone in the bicentennial celebration.”

Inspire Design has created a logo of the bicentennial that’s fully customizable, allowing companies and organizations to personalize it to put on T-shirts, mugs, pens and any items.

They also are ordering close to two dozen time capsules that will be placed in towns throughout the county, allowing each town to build its own capsule with pertinent items that will be opened in 50 years.

“We have an incredible history that goes well beyond just farming and the Amish community,” Patrick said. “Hopefully, people will enjoy everything we have on the horizon as we celebrate 200 years.”

The details are coming together for a sensational parade filled with local participants.

“We want local businesses and organizations, big bands, elected officials, and a huge gathering of every slice of Holmes County because that is what would have taken place at any special function, dedication or special ceremony back in the day,” Patrick said.

Doing it right means the county and its people participating in the Holmes County Bicentennial Parade. It is free to enter and will begin June 29 at noon with the lineup starting at 10:30 a.m. and registration ahead of time required.

The grand parade entry form can be found on this page of today’s Bargain Hunter.