Robbinsville – Planning inched forward on Monday for events to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Graham County’s founding.
Graham County was founded on Jan. 30, 1872, when it was carved out from Cherokee County. It celebrated its centennial in 1972, when organizers took about a few months to plan the celebration.
Graham County turned 150 in January and organizers are playing catch-up to put together some kind of celebration to observe the sesquicentennial milestone. The process to plan a celebration started two years ago, but COVID-19 delayed things.
The first meeting was held on March 22, during which more than a dozen people expressed interest in helping plan for events this year.
About the same number of people showed up for Monday’s meeting, during which a possible timeframe for events – Aug. 11-14. One day each would focus on Robbinsville, Stecoah, and Fontana Dam, with Sunday set aside for a community-wide church picnic.
There is a window of opportunity to hold the celebration centered around the county’s innkeepers and their ability to accommodate guests for the once-in-a-lifetime event. That window is the five weeks between the week after July 4th until mid-August, when the new school year starts.
Nothing has been finalized and lots of ideas were tossed around about dates, events, venues, food and performers.
Possibilities include a history walk of the downtown area, a kid zone and parade, and live music.
Tie-ins to the 100th anniversary celebration are also possible, including a beard-growing contest, period costumes and jail for anyone caught not growing a beard or wearing period-appropriate clothing. Unlike the 100th celebration, greased-hog wrestling will probably not be included this time.
Some hope to have Ronnie Milsap appear, if not perform. Milsap visited his home county in March.
“He said he had never felt so welcomed and blessed to be from here,” said Valerie Frapp of Tapoco Lodge, who attended the meeting on Monday and who hosted a dinner for Milsap at the lodge last month.
Another tie-in would be to teach middle schoolers about Graham County history, since they will be the generation to take on celebration of Graham County’s bicentennial in 2072.
Graham County Travel and Tourism Director Daniel Allison and Graham County Commissioner Dale Wiggins, acting in his role as a member of the Travel and Tourism Board of Directors, said that agency will help sponsor the celebration.
Volunteers are needed at all levels, from servers and ticket takers, to marketing and even an event planner.
The Travel and Tourism Board will be asked to consider paying for an event planner for the 150th anniversary celebration.
A fledgling executive committee was formed and included two representatives from Robbinsville, including Farron Jenkins and Robbinsville Alderwoman Debbie Beasley.
It was their idea to stretch the celebration over several days.
Representatives are being sought from throughout the county to participate, including Robbinsville, Stecoah, Fontana Dam and Tapoco.
“This will take a lot of work and take a lot of people to pull off successfully,” Wiggins said.