Organizers put final touches on plans for Sedalia's 150th birthday bash

It’s time for folks to mark their calendars to ensure they don’t miss out on any of the Sedalia sesquicentennial celebrations.

Details are being finalized for Sedalia’s 150th birthday bash, after organizers have spent 18 months making plans. An organizing committee for the celebration, called “Share the Journey,” are making banners to place throughout the city by the end of the year. The banners would be available for sponsorship.

“We want people driving through town to know,” about the sesquicentennial, said Kathleen Boswell, co-chairwoman of the organizing committee.

Nearly all of the half dozen events are free and open to the public. A ticket will be needed for the costume ball planned for Oct. 23, 2010, on the Missouri State Fairgrounds.

The committee is trying to get the word out about the events in case groups would like to invite a person with the sesquicentennial committee to speak about the celebration, or volunteer to participate by hosting games and entering floats in a parade. Although, Boswell encourages others, such as churches or businesses, who are celebrating milestone birthdays to make their festivities part of the sesquicentennial.

Boswell also wants people to let other natives know about the events.

“If you have friends or family who used to live here, make sure they know these dates and can come back,” she said.

The first event of the year of celebration will be from 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 23 in downtown Sedalia. Children’s activities will be in the Community Center, and organizers continue to look for donations of wood that can be cut into the shape of a train for youngsters to paint.

A vintage fashion show is planned at Nostalgia Vintage Apparel then onto the Amtrak depot for a “First Train to Sedalia Commemoration.” Organizers are trying to arrange for an vintage train to drive through a breakaway banner. A reception is planned for after the train’s arrival at Lincoln Hubbard Apartments.

“We pray that the train is on time,” Boswell said.

Sedalia history themed lesson plans are a way to draw children and their families into the festivities, Boswell said. Rhonda Chalfant, who is also a member of the Pettis County Historical Society, chairs the committee creating curriculum for teachers to use in schools. The material provides activities teachers can incorporate into their lessons featuring Sedalia’s history and how to use maps, cemeteries, diaries, old photographs and other resources.

“It will very much be a ‘how to’ learn about history,” Chalfant said of the curriculum.

Local history is taught in the fourth grade, so some of the lessons will focus on that age group.

“But, there are activities a creative teacher can use with any grade level,” Chalfant said.

The educational committee also has plans for essay, photo and “name the architectural building elements” contests.

The Pettis County Historical Society have preliminary plans for celebrating Sedalia’s milestone birthday. A Founder’s Day Banquet is scheduled for Jan. 23 at the Hotel Bothwell. Tickets will be need for the event, which is still being organized.

The group is looking for the oldest living Sedalia native and longest married native couple. Applications for the two categories, which will be accepted until Oct. 31, are available at McLaughlin Brothers Furniture, The Katy Depot Store and the Pettis County Museum, 228 Dundee Ave. Completed applications can be dropped off or mailed to the museum.

Other highlights planned by the society include a limited edition pictorial history book, possible cemetery walk at Crown Hill and a showing of “Scudda-Hoo, Scudda-Hay,” a movie about a boy and his donkey that premiered in the 1940s in Sedalia. Members of the society are searching for participants for the “best looking girl in blue jeans contest” as part of the movie premier.  

Several members of the club are also helping to organize activities through the citywide sesquicentennial committee.

“We have chosen things that will not interfere with, or duplicate, things the city is working on as well,” Chalfant said.

For more information about the sesquicentennial plans visit Sedalia150.com. Information about the Historical Society activities can be found by calling 829-3102.