By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher
DEC. 14, 2018 | Gwinnett’s Bicentennial year will be over Saturday. It’s been a time of celebration with much more happening around this theme than was anticipated.
Saturday will feature the last two big planned events. Starting at 10 a.m., and continuing until 2 p.m. at the Hudgens Center for Art and Learning at 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth will the 200th birthday celebration. That will include diverse cultural performances, crafts, storytelling, birthday cupcakes and food trucks. The event is free and will allow visitors to “travel the globe to see what makes Gwinnett a vibrant community.” There is no cost to attend.
The concluding big event will be Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Infinite Energy Center, the 200th birthday party gala. Over 1,100 persons are anticipated attending. (Tickets as of Friday are still available, at $125 person.) It begins with a cocktail party in the Grand Ballroom, featuring an international food tasting of Asian, Indian and Latin American foods, plus pop-up entertainment, including dancers.
After an hour, participants will move to the Exhibit Hall for dinner. Entertainment will consist of line dancers performing and other entertainment, while gifts will be presented to the county.
Then about 9 p.m. will be the after-party on the Lake Gallery outside the ballroom, with a DJ, dancing and fireworks. It’ll be a night to remember, as Gwinnett concludes its 200th year celebration.
First leg of Gwinnett Torch Runs leaves Historic Courthouse
Early on, planners had hoped that the county would put on a year-long celebration consisting of at least 200 events. But people got excited about the Bicentennial, and many organizations joined in the planning, with a total of 365 sanctioned events taking place!
Tammy Gibson, who was Gwinnett’s Bicentennial coordinator, says that when an advisory committee was originally doing the planning, “People starting coming up with ideas, first one then another, and the more they got involved, the more ideas they had. It grew even more. It was beautiful to watch.” Many of the organizations rolled their planned activities into themed Bicentennial events, allowing the original events to expand. All this came from communities throughout the county.
Among the key events during the year:
- A frontier fair kickoff at the Historic Courthouse.
- Bus tours, visiting natural and historic sites and cemeteries.
- A traveling history exhibit, comprised of mounted displays.
- A Torch Run.
- Story Vault.
- 366 Fact book.
The Torch Run idea came from an idea by Lawrenceville Mayor Judy Johnson. There were a total of 36 runs throughout the year, covering 236 miles, visiting every city in Gwinnett. The runners were primarily high school students, with a total of 300 cross country and track members participating. The first run was on December 15, 2017, from the Historic Courthouse. The last will culminate at the Infinite Energy Center Saturday night.
Gwinnett took the Bicentennial theme and invited citizens to record on video their memories of the county at the Story Vault. These videos are available at the county web site, with so far more than 170 individual recordings capturing stories from major players over the last 50 years, or from individuals recently moving into the county, all telling their own stories. They are fun to hear. Go here. Click on the photos, which are stored alphabetically by participant to hear each one.
It’s been an intense year for the Gwinnett Bicentennial, enriching the county and bringing its citizens closer together.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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