This year marks Clay County’s 200th birthday and the Clay County Bicentennial Commission will celebrate our rich history and heritage with events and activities all around the county.

The Commission is looking to partner with individuals, businesses, and other organizations and agencies to help promote the year-long celebration through their Endorsement Program. The program helps to promote individual bicentennial events by bringing them together and helping to market and promote them county-wide.

Bicentennial Commission Chair Katie Steele Danner appeared on Kearney Live Wednesday to talk about the project. “Let’s reach out to those folks…who put together all kinds of activities that are occurring annually in Clay County, or some things that haven’t been created yet, and we will endorse them. That endorsement program will help to raise the brand of Clay County’s bicentennial.”

Any project or event is welcome to participate in the endorsement program as long as it is relevant to the mission and efforts to honor Clay County, its rich history and heritage, open and accessible to the public, and funding and operations of the project, program, or event are self-supporting.

“We think it will bring some value, if we put together an endorsement program where organizations can apply [to the program],” said Danner. “We’ll help you promote your event. We’ll put your information on our website, on the Facebook page that the county has, and other digital assets, and work with others to share the story.”

Events planned this year include the 200th anniversary of the original James Family cabin on April 23, the Kearney Legends Festival: Rails and Tails in downtown Kearney on April 2, and the Clay County Museum is developing an exhibit of the original furniture of Major Dougherty's plantation home, Multnomah for an April Dedication.

The Bicentennial Commission will also be digging up a time capsule on June 4, 2022, in a highly anticipated event. The time capsule was buried 50 years ago near the old courthouse during the County’s sesquicentennial.

Endorsement applications and bicentennial events approved for the endorsement program can be found on the commission’s webpage.

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this story