Mayor forms committee to plan for bicentennial

By Randy Bell

A committee consisting of City leaders and other influential Clintonians will be working on initial plans for a local bicentennial celebration in 2028.

Mayor Will Purdie announced the committee appointments at the September 14 Board of Aldermen work session, but a final list of those who have accepted the appointments hasn’t been released. However, the committee is expected include Ward 2 Alderwoman TJ McSparrin, Ward 4 Alderman Chip Wilbanks and Ward 5 Alderwoman Beverly Oliver.

The committee’s first meeting was scheduled for October 1.

Clinton received its charter in 1828, and Wilbanks has been urging the City to get an early start on arrangements for a celebration in 2028.

“We’ll work and plan, with some really good people on [the committee],” Wilbanks says. “We’ll have some time, a year and four months or so, to get it to where it’s something that everybody can participate in.”

There had been little public discussion about the approaching bicentennial until Wilbanks brought it up during the City budget hearings in August.