Committee invites all to bicentennial birthday party

Celebrating a bicentennial is a once-in-a-lifetime event, but Franklin County’s Bicentennial Birthday Celebration will honor three 200th birthdays – for the state of Alabama, Franklin County and the City of Russellville.

The event will be Nov. 21 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the A.W. Todd Center. Tickets are $15 a person and include a traditional old-fashioned meal of smoked chicken, pinto beans, turnip greens, potato salad, cornbread and fried pies.

The Athens Dulcimer Jam Group will provide the entertainment for the night beginning at 6 p.m.

Bicentennial Committee Chair Chris Ozbirn said the goal is to make the event feel old-fashioned and be something for people to remember.

“This will be an event nobody should forget,” Ozbirn said.

Ozbirn said she hoped to have the event Nov. 27, the day of the City of Russellville’s founding, but she knew an event right before Thanksgiving Day would not be well attended. She said she and the committee wanted to have the event as close to this date as possible without competing with Thanksgiving week travels.

In honor of Russellville’s 200th birthday, a historical marker will be unveiled at Russellville City Hall at 5:30 p.m. before festivities move to the A.W. Todd Center.

The event will include speeches from Russellville Mayor David Grissom, Probate Judge Barry Moore and more.

Attendees are encouraged to dress in clothing from different time periods, but this is not a requirement. Historic figures will be portrayed at the event, such as Mayor William Russell and Andrew Jackson.

“I am so excited for this,” Ozbirn said. “We have tried our best to think of everything, so we hope people will really enjoy it.”

To purchase tickets, contact the Franklin County Archives at 256-332-8827. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the door.