Lots of ideas flowing to celebrate 250th anniversary in 2011

By Ryan Conway

Members of the planning committee for Yarmouth’s 250th anniversary met last week to pitch ideas for the 2011 celebration.

With a wide variety of ideas for events and commemorations, as well as promotional ideas pitched, it made for an interesting discussion.

David Olie said holding a town crier competition should only be a matter of filling in the proper paper work. He also had an intriguing idea for a re-enactment of the first winter experienced by the original Yarmouth settlers, which could possibly be held in January of 2011. “Survivor Chebogue is going to attract people to come and have a look because they are not going to be able to believe that there are three or four people crazy enough to stay in a log cabin that is heated by wood, all through the winter,” he said.

Olie said even though it would serve as a good attraction, it would also be a valuable educational site. “This is an historical approximation of what those first people lived through that first year. So we want to get all of the schools to come out. Load the kids on the buses and bring them on through.”

Other ideas included holding a county-wide spelling bee for students, displaying student artwork throughout the town, hosting a baseball or slow-pitch tournament and initiating a mural program that would re-create historical Yarmouth paintings on the waterfront.

There was also the suggestion of baking the world’s largest rappie pie and inviting officials from the Guinness Book of World Records to witness its creation.

There could also be a geo-caching event that would allow participants to locate items related to Yarmouth’s history using a GPS system.

There might even be a reunion concert featuring the Ferraris.

Ideas to sell commemorative pins, stamps and a Yarmouth cookbook, were also put forward as possible fundraisers.

Yarmouth Mayor Phil Mooney presented the idea of having an award ceremony for Yarmouth citizens who have achieved a level of excellence in certain fields. “We are kicking around the idea of setting up a committee to pass out keys to the town of Yarmouth because I think it would be a great idea for the 250th anniversary,” he said. “We are still working out the details of how we would select applicants. We were thinking they would be selected from different areas like arts, music and education.”

Other committee members suggested having a selected group of nominees for each category and allowing citizens to vote for one person from each category.

Bruce Bishop of the Yarmouth County Museum and Archives suggested having a public showing of historical pictures. He said the museum had the photos and a projector, but they needed a large wall to use for projecting the images during the showcase. “Is there a way that we could this on Main Street, and maybe project the images off of a big building?”

Councillor Ken Langille said it is important for the committee to begin thinking about the dates in which these events will be held. “We are going to need to know the amount of funding we are going to need before the budget in April.”

The next meeting will be held on Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. at the town hall. Everyone is welcome to attend.