200th Birthday of Boalsburg in 2008!

Boalsburg 200th Birthday Celebration

Kick-Off on October 11

Features Free Community Street Party and Fancy Benefit Ball

The streets of Boalsburg were laid out in October 1808 and for 200 years the shape of the village has fostered a sense of community among residents and visitors alike. Accordingly, on Saturday, October 11, 2008, Boalsburg will celebrate its 200 th birthday with a free community birthday party on those same streets in the afternoon and a fancy benefit ball in the evening at the Boal Mansion. The eighth and ninth generation of the historic Boal family will be at the evening ball to welcome guests. The general public is invited to attend both events.

The Boalsburg 200th Birthday Street Party, from Noon to 4 pm, will feature music, games and a large birthday cake in the village square, as well as free wagon rides with a guide through historic Boalsburg village and down to the Boal Mansion Museum. At 1:30 the

Reverend Ann Graves of St. John’s United Church of Christ will give the blessing over a large birthday cake donated by For Heaven Cakes and singers from the fifth grade of Boalsburg Elementary School directed by instructor Lisa Bevan will sing.

Many community groups will participate in the afternoon celebration with booths, including the Boalsburg Garden Club, the Harris Township Lions Club, the Boalsburg Village Conservancy with historical publications and Boalsburg T-shirts and the Boalsburg Fire Company with fire equipment. There will also be crafts booths offering hand-made crafts on West Main Street.

Community members are especially encouraged to bring any photos or images they have of old Boalsburg which will be scanned on the spot by Bill Wallace (wrw5@psu.edu) to be included in an upcoming photo publication, “Boalsburg, Then and Now,” to be published in May 2009 as part of the Boalsburg 200th.

Music will be provided at the afternoon street party by theTussey Mountain Moonshiners (bluegrass), Synchronicity (rock) and Dirty Blonde (rock and blues) and at the evening ball by the contradance group the Gnutones led by Bruce Young.

Historic houses on Main Street which have been studied extensively by students in Penn State’s History Department will have details of their histories posted on the houses. A publication and detailed database on the historic houses being assembled by Bob Cameron ( rdc170@psu.edu), and a historic house tour being organized by Katie Ellis ( Katie@uoc.com), both residents of West Main Street, also will be offered in May 2009.

Historic persons from Boalsburg’s rich history will appear throughout the day, including the pioneer David Boal portrayed by his descendant Pittsburgh broadcaster Alan Boal, the three ladies who started Memorial Day in 1864 portrayed by members of Battery B, a Civil War re-enactment group, and Judge George Boal, one of Penn State University’s founders, portrayed by national television actor Charles Dumas.

These historical characters will also appear at the evening Boalsburg 200 th Birthday Ball at the Boal Mansion, which will feature line dancing to Bruce Young’s group, fine food and champagne. The Ball is open to the public. Tickets are $75 each and will help defray the cost of Boalsburg 200 th publications and activities as well as historic preservation. A television set up in the 1798 library will carry the Penn-State Wisconsin football game at 8 pm for football fans at the ball.

For further information and a full calendar of Boalsburg 200th Birthday activities access http://boalmuseum.com/ To get involved, contact Boalsburg 200th Chairman Christopher Lee at 814-466-9266 or chris@boalmuseum.com.