Scott City to hold Missouri bicentennial celebrations in August

The 200th anniversary of Missouri becoming America's 24th state is two months away and planners in Scott City plan to celebrate the occasion with a four-day event in early August.

Festivities will begin at 6 p.m. Aug. 6 with a German band, plus a musical group specializing in music from the 1950s and 1960s jointly performing in an open-air concert in the Scott City Historical Museum parking lot at 1514 Main St.

On Aug. 7, the museum will host an old-fashioned cake walk, a pie-baking contest and a Little Miss and Mister Bicentennial contest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On Aug. 8, the community is invited to tour the city's historical churches from 1 to 2:30 p.m., with hymn singing planned at Scott City's Restoration Community Church, 405 E. Main and Second streets, at 3 p.m.

After a day off Aug. 9, Scott City's bicentennial festival will conclude with an ice cream social from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 10 in the museum parking lot.

It was on Aug. 10, 1821, that Missouri, the first of the states entirely west of the Mississippi River, became part of the Union.

The State Historical Society of Missouri asked all Show Me State communities to remember the arrival of statehood by staging ice cream socials.

"It's appropriate to do this because the ice cream cone began to be used during the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis," said Brenda Moyers, director of the Scott City bicentennial celebration, referring to the use of waffle-style cones for ice cream popularized during the famous seven-month fair, formally known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

Moyers said Scott City will have a "giant" bicentennial birthday cake made with 200 cupcakes -- with a number marking each year of Missouri's existence.

Buzzi Unicem plant manager Chris Conklin, center standing, presents a check in support of the Scott City bicentennial celebration to Brenda Moyers, left top row. Others in the photo: Mayor Norman Brant, right top row, and bottom row, Gail Crader, left, and city administrator Mike Dudek, right, Wednesday at the Scott City Historical Museum.Jeff Long

Gift

Buzzi Unicem presented a $500 check Wednesday to organizers of Scott City's celebration.

"It's the least we can do to give back to Scott City and Scott County, where a number of our employees live," said Craig Conklin, manager of Buzzi Unicem's Cape Girardeau plant.

Conklin said the local plant, which makes cement, has 181 employees and is one of eight facilities Buzzi Unicem has in the U.S.

Mayor Norman Brant, right, and Gail Crader, who is compiling a history of Scott County, look at a model train set depicting Scott City's history Wednesday at the Scott City Historical Museum. Scott City was formed in 1960 by the merger of the communities of Fornfelt and Ancell. Illmo was annexed into the city in 1980.Jeff Long

Other Ice cream socials locally

According to www.missouri2021.org, the website of the state historical society, the following communities will hold Aug. 10 ice cream celebrations:

• Cape Girardeau: 2 p.m. at Missouri Veterans Home, 2400 Veterans Memorial Drive (for residents)
• Jackson: Courthouse Square, 100 Court St. (time to be determined), and from noon to 5 p.m. at Iron Mountain Whistle Stop, 252 E. Jackson Blvd.
• Perryville: 1 to 3 p.m. at Catalyst Center for Business, 508 N. Main St., and all day at Cone or Cup, 117 S. Kingshighway.