Also scheduled during the New Carlisle Bicentennial celebration:
• Jan. 16 — Bicentennial Christmas Tree Bonfire in Smith Park.
• Feb. 13 — Bicentennial Ball at Lake Avenue Christian Church .
• March 13 — Letters from New Carlisle History read by Sue Curtiss and singing by The Patriots at New Carlisle Elementary School.
• April 24 — Bicentennial 5K run along hiking and biking path in Smith Park.
• May 15 — Walking tour of New Carlisle , open house at the Manneman Fire Museum, and tour of historic graves in New Carlisle Cemetery.
• June 5 and 6 — Frontier Ohio Living History Encampment, Smith Park.
• July 11 — Ice cream social and vintage baseball against the Champion City Reapers.
• Aug. 1 — New Carlisle Community Chorus sings “Letters from York,” period songs to accompany the reading of letters written by people from New Carlisle.
• Sept. 11 — Pioneer and Patriot Days and Dedication of Bicentennial Memorial at New Carlisle Public Library.
• Oct. 1-3 — Heritage of Flight Festival with Bicentennial theme.
• Nov. 23 — Community-wide Thanksgiving service at First United Methodist Church.
NEW CARLISLE — Most days when someone drops the ball, it’s not a good thing.
But when the ball drops in New Carlisle New Year’s Eve, it will do more than welcome in the New Year; it will get the ball rolling on a yearlong celebration of the village’s 200th birthday.
Still under construction, the 5-foot diameter wire ball will have about 200 lights on it when the crane from Bobo Construction lowers it from a height of about 90 feet on Main between Jefferson and Madison streets, said Jamie Leighty, chairman of the village’s Bicentennial Committee.
When the ball hits, the First Mad River Light Artillery will fire a canon in nearby Hinsley Park “and we hope to have all the church bells ringing,” Leighty said.
The racket is expected to bring the ghost of John Dillinger out of the quarters of the old New Carlisle National Bank, which he robbed in 1933.
“He’ll have a bag of cash, and he’ll be chased by a couple of cops and throw (play) money out in the air for everyone,” Leighty said.
“We think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The fun will run from 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve to 1 a.m. New Year’s Day. Downtown shops and stores will be open, there will be live music indoors at the Profiler Building.
Those who want to stay out of the weather even for the ball drop can view it from the Profiler building or the First United Methodist Church of New Carlisle.
Just as NASCAR holds its biggest race of the year, the Dayton 500, first, the 15-member Bicentennial Committee decided to hold its biggest event to open its celebration, Leighty said.
But the committee has scheduled events monthly through November. With activities from a bonfire and Bicentennial 5K run to a tour of homes and vintage baseball game, “we hope that everybody has an opportunity to participate in something that might interest them,” Leighty said.
For details about the events, go to the committee’s Web site, www.ncbicentennial.com
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0368 or tstafford@coxohio.com.
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