As America gets ready to celebrate its 250th anniversary, Mississippi is gearing up to have events all across the state.
America250 Mississippi was commissioned in 2023 by the state legislature and is a nonprofit collaborating on events across the state to celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial.
Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation CEO Nancy Carpenter spoke to Columbus Exchange Club Thursday about events the nonprofit is coordinating, including flyovers at Ole Miss and Mississippi State football games, a naturalization ceremony at both the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson and a showing a preview of the new “The American Revolution” documentary by Ken Burns at Ole Miss and MSU, Carpenter said.
The 41st army band will be performing from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at HUB plaza in Starkville, she said.
“We aim to inspire fellow Americans and to reflect on our past, strengthen our love of our country and renew our commitment to the ideal of democracy through programs that educate, engage and unite us as a nation,” Carpenter, the development director for America250 Mississippi, said during the meeting at Lion Hills Center.
The nonprofit has $2.25 million from the state for the project and will be awarding $1 million of it in grants in amounts ranging from $2,000 to more than $10,000 that will be managed by the Mississippi Humanities Council, Carpenter said. Those grants will fund city- and county-level celebrations over the next 18 months.
The grant application dates will be announced in July but the nonprofit will have moving grants throughout the end of 2026, Carpenter said.
“You may not have all of your details together for the first grant application, which may be August or the end of July, but there will be another opportunity two or three months later,” Carpenter said. “And so there will be targets along that.”
One potential event in Columbus is a musical program that Carpenter discussed with Garrett Torbert, the Golden Triangle Theatre executive and artistic director, Carpenter said.
“It needs to be in an area that would be open to the public,” Carpenter said. “We try to make our events free and open to the public, and so he and I have talked about … starting with the 1700s and moving forward.”
“… I came up with some ideas, and I said, you know, let’s think about what would have been going on in the 1700s and in a community like this, you know, a wagon, not even a flatbed truck,” she later added.
Torbert told The Dispatch he and Carpenter briefly discussed an America250 performance in Columbus.
“We haven’t sat down and done any details or anything.” Torbert said. “… I’m happy to get with her and kind of figure things out.”
Carpenter also discussed the historical significance of the Tennessee Williams House Museum, which finished renovations in November and turned 150 this year, and potentially trying to tie it in with the 250th anniversary celebration.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
