BUCYRUS – Bucyrus is celebrating its 200th birthday in big fashion this Fourth of July weekend.
The city’s big Founder’s Day celebration will kick off Saturday at noon downtown, the start of three days packed with a parade, fireworks, entertainment, and plenty of activities for young and old alike. A tribute to the past and a celebration of what’s to come.
“I’m just really excited about bringing family fun to Bucyrus, ‘Community Unity,’ and that’s what we’ve been about all along,” said Rhonda Rowland, events coordinator for the Bucyrus Bicentennial Commission. “We’re just really pushing that.”
Saturday’s lineup is the busiest, with a historic costume contest from noon to 2 p.m., food, games around Washington Square, and entertainment on the newly dedicated Schines Art Park Stage. United in Harmony will perform at 3 p.m., followed by The Cellar Dwellers at 4 p.m. and the Rolling Hams at 8 p.m.
Guided tours will be offered of historic sites downtown, including the Bucyrus Historical Society and the renovated Toledo & Ohio Central Train Station. The Fire Department will also be opening up its doors to tours – and peeks of antique fire equipment, including an 1869 steam engine and a hose wagon circa 1893.
The Fire Department will also be setting up its “Hazard House” each hour starting at 2:00 until the parade kicks off at 6 p.m., said Fire Lt. Barry Herschler. “We were happy to jump in with the festivities and give everyone something else to do that day,” Herschler said.
Residents can hop on a horse-drawn wagon ride from 1 to 5 p.m., then find a prime spot to watch the Founder’s Day Parade, which will step off at 6 p.m. from Harmon Park and wind down Lane Street to Bucyrus Elementary School. The parade will also feature a wagon carrying descendants of city founder Samuel Norton.
A “Happy Birthday” party will follow in nearby Picking Park, where 500 cupcakes will be given away. The evening will conclude with a bang – the annual Kiwanis fireworks show, which this year will be set off from the Lane Street soccer field instead of the Crawford County Fairgrounds.
More than 6,000 shells will be launched around 10 p.m., a show twice as big as previous years, Rowland said.
Over $20,000 was spent on the all aerial display, she said, which should be visible to spectators anywhere downtown.
“We’ve partnered with a lot of people to make this a spectacular show.”
Another cemetery walk is set for Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. at historic Oakwood Cemetery. Prominent Bucyrus residents will be featured, and tours will stop in the section of the cemetery where those who died from the 1918 Spanish Flu are buried.
“We thought it would be timely to make that a stop also in light of the pandemic,” said Randy Fischer, legacy coordinator for the Bicentennial Commission. “We’ll also be explaining what those true meridian markers are used for.”
On Monday at 1 p.m., a time capsule buried in 1971 during the city’s sesquicentennial celebration will be unveiled at the Bucyrus Historical Society, which will be open for tours from 1 to 5. The T & O C depot will also be open that day from 1 to 4 p.m.
The Commission will be selling commemorative T-shirts, ornaments, decals, and apple butter at their booth. Fischer said residents can also pre-order copies of “Down to Earth,” the three-volume series of historical articles published by Jim Croneis in the Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum.
“My favorite thing about the weekend celebration is probably the Norton family riding in the parade,” said Kelli Patterson, the city’s Bicentennial Coordinator. “I just love that they want to be a part of all of this. It really speaks to me. Family spirit. That’s what it’s all about.”
The yearlong event, which kicked off with a Bratwurst Drop May 1, will continue with a Bicentennial-themed Bratwurst Festival in August, a fly-in at the Bucyrus Airport in October, and a religious heritage day in December. A formal gala on New Year’s Eve will cap off the year’s festivities.
More information is available on the Commission’s website www.bucyrus2021.com.