Sesquicentennial Celebration was a grand 6-month event

Letter To The Editor - Stanly News & Press

Sunday May 13, 2007

Thanks, Albemarle, for some wonderful memories.  Last Saturday night the curtain fell on the celebration of Albemarle’s Sesquicentennial.  It all started over eighteen months ago when Mayor Whitley and the Albemarle City Council allocated funds and commissioned Albemarle Downtown Development Corporation (ADDC) to plan and carry through with a celebration of the city’s one hundred and fiftieth birthday.  ADDC immediately selected the highly respected and recently retired pastor of First Baptist Church, Dr. Harold McDonald, to chair the Sesquicentennial Steering Committee.  The Committee and its sub committees then worked almost a full year planning for the event(s) that would commemorate the city’s founding in 1857.  Sub-committees were Events, Finance, Historical, Public Relations and Marketing and Competitions. 

            Starting with the allocation of  $50,000 from the city, the Finance Committee raised an additional $123,000 to support the budget of $173,000 envisaged by the Committees to support the planned events.  A web site, albemarle150.com, was immediately set up to provide information about the city, its history, and the Sesquicentennial events. 

            The History Committee produced a DVD documenting the history and culture of Albemarle.  In addition, a commemorative magazine, Albemarle 150, was published with the primary purpose of capturing the unique qualities of life in Albemarle.  Emphasis was given to the fifty years since the centennial celebration in 1957.

            The first “official kick-off” Sesquicentennial event was the Veterans Day Parade held in November 2006.  Other events held in 2006 were the Uwharrie Players production of “Blessed Assurance,” Stanly County chorale’s presentation of “All God’s Children,” Holiday Tour of Homes, North Stanly High School’s Christmas Concert, and the Old Fashioned Downtown Christmas that featured the arrival of the Duke of Albemarle.  Robin Wilkinson was outstanding as the Duke of Albemarle, appearing throughout the entire celebration in appropriate costume arranged by Edna Lipe Harkey.

The majority of the Sesquicentennial events have taken place during these first five months of 2007. 

January’s events were Martin Luther King Unity Breakfast and the Charlotte Symphony’s presentation of “Mill Village: a Piedmont Rhapsody.”  

In February we celebrated the actual date of our founding on February 2, 1857 with a huge birthday party held at Stanly Regional Medical Center.  This was followed by a concert by Badin native and renowned jazz musician, Lou Donaldson.

March brought us the Genealogy and Preservation Workshop, Economic Summit “Sharing the Vision,” Women’s Awareness Program at Stanly Community College featuring Sharon Decker, Uwharrie Player’s production of “Boys Next Door,” Stanly County chorale’s presentation of “A Lenten Meditation,” Art Gallery Crawl, and Albemarle Entertains.

In April we had the Easter Egg Hunt, Uwharrie Scottish Festival and Games, Lecture on the History of Albemarle given by Jonathan Underwood, and a Community Religious Observance featuring the ministers of the downtown churches, an interdenominational choir and the Kingville Community Choir.

In addition to the grand finale, in May we were treated to the Uwharrie Players musical review featuring outstanding music from their productions since their founding over thirty years ago. 

It would be impractical in a letter such as this to thank each and every individual, business and institution that had a role in making our celebration a success.  However, special thanks go to Mayor Whitley and the Albemarle City Council (Judy Holcomb, Tim White, Troy Alexander, Ed Underwood, Jack Neel and Martha Sue Hall), Stanly County Commissioners (Tony Dennis, Gene McIntyre, Nalin Mehta, Lindsey Dunnavent, and Sherrill Smith), Dr. Harold McDonald, City Manager Ray Allen, all of the contributors, B.J. Drye, Jim Lisk and the fine staff at Stanly News and Press, Leon Warren and radio station WSPC, and the literally hundreds of committee members and event participants that made this celebration so outstanding and memorable. 

We will not be around for the Bicentennial celebration.  However, we hope that the year 2057 finds Albemarle as fine a place to live as it is today and its people as eager and willing to celebrate its heritage as its people did in this year, 2007.

Pat and Chris Bramlett