Marysville turns 200 on Saturday and officials are getting ready for a party.
“Tomorrow is our birthday so it is going to be a big day,” said City manager Terry Emery.
The city will officially begin its bicentennial celebration Saturday and continue it next weekend.
The public has been invited to City Hall, from 10 to noon, Saturday for the dedication of a historical marker and raising of the city’s newly designed flag.
“We will have various people speaking and some dignitaries, but it is primarily going to be a very interesting presentation on Marysville and the history of Marysville,” Emery said.
Following the presentations, the public is invited into the fire station’s bay for cake.
“We are going to have a good time,” Emery said. “We will sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Marysville and enjoy stories from people from Marysville.”
Emery said the celebration Saturday will be “low-key” compared to next weekend’s activities.
“We don’t often shut down the Uptown, but we are going to shut down the Uptown. Friday and Saturday, the Uptown will be shut down for this celebration,” Emery said.
He added, “it is going to be a party in the Uptown that will be a lot of fun and hopefully people will remember for years.”
Friday’s celebration will include live music, a vintage car show with Mid-Ohio Cruisers, kids’ activities in Partners Park, a zip line on Fifth Street and a variety of vendors, including food trucks.
The music will begin at 4 p.m. with headliner McGuffey Lane at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday’s festivities will offer similar activities and include an Extreme Zone with a climbing wall and obstacle course.
“Pretty much all of Partners Park will be activities for the kids,” Emery said.
Saturday music, which will feature seven bands throughout the day, will begin at 11:30 a.m. and will culminate with Runaway Jane at 8 p.m.
“We will have fireworks very close to the Uptown, so people can see them from the Uptown,” Emery said. “That will kind of be the end of the celebration, but we hope also that people will gravitate to our local restaurants and bars for the rest of the evening.”
Parking will be available free at the Union County Fairgrounds. There will be a free shuttle to and from the Fairgrounds and Uptown Marysville.
he shuttle will run Friday, from 4 to 11 p.m., and Saturday from noon to 11 p.m.