The Town of North Judson is starting to make plans or its sesquicentennial celebration this year.
Clerk-Treasurer Alicia Collins shared some of her ideas with the town council Monday. “My idea is to kind of bring the town back to 1866, get some more people involved, and do an ice cream social in the building,” she said. “I’ve gotten some positive feedback with some older people in town.”
In fact, a few of the same people who were involved in the town’s centennial celebration 50 years ago have expressed interest in helping out again. One idea that has been discussed is having some of the residents dress up in 19th-century clothing and demonstrate what life was like in those days.
During the meeting, Collins asked the council to let her begin a more formal planning process, “I would kind of like to get a community committee going because there’s been people that have come up here wanting to be involved. And even the schools; I know I’ve talked to a couple teachers and they were like, ‘OK, well what can our students do?'”
There was also some discussion Monday about whether the celebration should be incorporated into the larger Mint Festival held in June or if there should be a separate celebration in October, the actual month of the town’s founding. Some advantages cited of an October celebration would be cooler temperatures and the fact that school would be in session, making it easier for teachers to include the event as part of students’ classwork.
Donna Henry, who helps organize the Mint Festival, says her committee has been considering ways to incorporate the town’s sesquicentennial and Indiana’s bicentennial into this year’s event. They’ve also thought about having an essay contest on state and local history.
The town council voted to allow Collins to proceed with forming a committee to organize the sesquicentennial celebration.
