Valdosta City Press Release:

In preparation for Valdosta’s 150th anniversary in 2010, the city is organizing a year-long celebration that reflects our heritage, celebrates our present community and inspires citizens as they look toward the future.

Downtown Valdosta will set the stage for the kickoff celebration—Downtown ‘DostaFest: Where It All Began—on Friday, Jan. 15, 2010, from 6-9 p.m., and will give citizens a glimpse of what the community may have looked like during the late 1800s. Valdostans should mark their calendars for this event that will feature an official ceremony on the Lowndes County Courthouse steps, an original historic play by Jacque Wheeler at the Dosta Playhouse, barbershop quartets and other musical street acts, actors in period dress providing historic accounts of downtown buildings, kids zones, a Doc Holliday look-a-like contest, and more. Downtown merchants are also helping to set the tone for the event by dressing in period costume, creating interesting window displays, and providing “sesquicentennial” menus or sale selections, etc.

In addition to the Jan. 15 kickoff, a full year of events is being planned by the Valdosta Sesquicentennial Planning Committee (VSPC)—a committee made up of representatives from across the community. The events will celebrate various aspects of the Valdosta community, such as education, arts and culture, local government, military, and community diversity, and will commemorate events from the original establishment of the railroad to Valdosta winning TitleTown, U.S.A.

The VSPC is chaired by the City’s Public Information Officer, Sementha Mathews, and includes: Jeff Stubbs, Georgia Department of Economic Development; Kay Harris, Valdosta Daily Times; Mary Gooding, Valdosta State University; Cheryl Oliver, Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts; Donald Davis, Lowndes County Historical Society and Museum; Joanne Griner, Central Valdosta Development Authority; Myrna Ballard, Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce; Ellen Hill, Valdosta Main Street Office; Emily Foster, City of Valdosta Special Projects/Historic Preservation Planner; Rick Hamilton, Valdosta-Lowndes County Tourism Authority; Nikki Forman, Metro Valdosta Channel 17; Paige Dukes, Lowndes County; Andrea Thacker, Moody Air Force Base Public Affairs; Lu Williams, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority; Christina Moore, Valdosta Technical Institute; and Jennifer Steedley, Valdosta City Schools.

The VSPC is extending an invitation to citizens to get involved with the sesquicentennial planning. Various opportunities exist on several subcommittees, such as the Kickoff, Promotions, Arts and Culture, Reflection of Generations, Education, City Hall’s 100th Anniversary, and Commemorative Cookbook subcommittees. The purpose of these committees is to ensure that all interested Valdostans are included in the celebratory year.

More information may be found by clicking on the red cake icon on the city’s website at www.valdostacity.com or by contacting the Public Information Office at (229) 259-3548.