NEW PARIS — The Village of New Paris was founded on Aug. 20, 1817, which made Friday, Aug. 18 its 200th birthday. To celebrate, the village came together for an ice cream social held at the park shelter at the old Jefferson Township School.
While that might not seem like much for a 200th birthday celebration, according to David Wesler, who is part of the Bicentennial Committee, there will be celebrations throughout the year, with the main one held during the Apple Fest.
“The committee decided that the best thing we could do was an ice cream social, get as many people as we could. Unfortunately, we are up against a lot of other events, the National Trail basketball game was tonight, there was school conferences, stuff like that — so we were up against a lot of other things. We didn’t know how many people would show up, we thought maybe 40 or 50, but I was just getting ready to count and it looks like there is several hundred here tonight.”
According to Wesler, everything for the ice cream social was donated — from the water to the ice cream. The celebration did not cost the village or visitors bureau anything. “There are many sponsors that we have to thank for that,” Wesler added.
This will not be the only New Paris Bicentennial celebration.
“After the Apple Fest, shortly after the parade, when we’re going to have some politicians around, they’ve been asked to do some proclamations,” Wesler said. “We’re going to have a short ceremony with proclamations and maybe some other things going on during the Apple Fest, but it’s going to be a really good celebration. It will be a very special celebration for New Paris for its 200th birthday anniversary. We’re just really excited for it.”
The committee held the ice cream social on the day they did because they felt the need to celebrate the actual day the village turned 200 years old. They wanted to have a large celebration during Apple Fest, but also didn’t want to miss out on the village’s actual birthday.
“It’s hard to understand 200 years ago, what all buildings were here, maybe not many, but it has grown since then and we have a lot of dedicated citizens here in New Paris that are looking to better the community,” Wesler said. “We have a nice village here and we can only hope to prosper in the future.
“We’re really looking forward to celebrate the rest of the year. There are so many events going on.”
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