By FULLER ROYAL
Staff Writer

Most residents of Columbus County probably don’t realize that 2008 marks the 200th anniversary of Columbus County’s founding.

This week, the county’s bicentennial celebration committee found its legs and is off and running.

It’s hard to believe that 31 years have passed since the United States celebrated its bicentennial in 1976 or that 20 years have passed since the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.

During its Tuesday night meeting, the committee brainstormed a bit and created several subcommittees to handle the myriad of activities and events coming up.

The county’s bicentennial committee, made up of representatives from across the county, knows that it wants next year’s celebration to be all-encompassing.

And they want it to top the 1976 and 1987 bicentennials.

There are no details yet. Those will be forthcoming.

But I can tell you that there was a high level of enthusiasm with one idea leading to another.

I can tell you that, for starters, sometime next month, a website dedicated to the bicentennial will be set up.

There you will find out all of the plans and schedules as they develop. It will be an interactive site that will serve as a multi-media showcase for all aspects of the celebration.

One of the goals of the committee is to deeply involve every church and school in some aspect of the celebration.

Churches may be called on for their music and their history. School children will be involved in every grade with their art, music and writing.

There’s history to be researched, authenticated, recorded, written and published. It will take thousands of man-hours to do it correctly.

The high schools’ choruses, bands, dance troupes and drama teams will be called upon.

Civic clubs and organizations in every community will be called on to participate.

The celebration is going to need artists, photographers, musicians, performers, writers and organizers.

Southeastern Community College and both school systems will have big roles to play, as will the county and various city governments. Chambers of commerce and the North Carolina Museum of Forestry will be involved, as will the Columbus County Library and the Columbus County Tourism Board.

Again, there are no details yet, only excitement and enthusiasm. During the next four weeks, these various sub-committees will seek additional members to create preliminary plans for presentation at the bicentennial committee’s April meeting.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the celebration will be teaching Columbus County residents, old and young alike, what it took to get where we are.

As our sense of history goes the way of the mule, our bicentennial offers us a concerted effort to instill in our youngsters a sense of history and a way to value the contributions made by our ancestors.

I fully expect our residents to search their attics, drawers and shoeboxes for artifacts, documents and photographs that shed light on this county’s rich 200-year history.

We will certainly do our part here at The News Reporter. We’ve already been working on this for a year.

I’m excited to be an ex-officio member of this committee.

I remember how much fun the previous bicentennials were.

We’re going to make the county’s bicentennial the one to top. And you’re going to help.