Bicentennial legacy projects to be done in future
The Jackson-Madison County Bicentennial Celebration wrapped up officially in August of 2022 with the City of Jackson’s 200th birthday that included a parade, a burying of the time capsule set to be opened in 2072 and a large concert and fireworks show at Jackson Baseball Stadium.
But Elaine Christian, the chair of the JMC Bicentennial Committee, gathered local leaders last week to discuss a couple of legacy projects that aren’t completed yet and to also celebrate the art project displayed in City Hall.
The two yet-to-be-finished legacy projects are the mural that will go in the Madison County Courthouse and Bicentennial Point.
Caleb O’Connor is the local artist who’s been commissioned to handle the mural/art gallery that will be displayed at the courthouse.
The work at Bicentennial Point could be done soon if that would be prudent, but Christian said it wouldn’t be at this point.
“That intersection there of Airways Boulevard, Main Street and where Lafayette came out there at the other two roads, the state department of transportation has awarded grants to the City of Jackson to redo that entire intersection there,” Christian said. “We met with people from TDOT and the City about what we plan to do on the edge of what’s now known as Triangle Park in Downtown, and they said a lot of what we plan to install, if we did it now, they’d have to pull it up and destroy it to do the work they plan to do.
“So we’re waiting for them to do their work, and then we’ll finish Bicentennial Point.”
The plan is for Bicentennial Point to act as the western gateway into Downtown near the refurbished former Jackson Sun building and the planned boutique hotel across the road from it.
A couple hundred people gathered at City Hall on June 13 to celebrate Lendon Noe’s gallery called “In This Moment.”
“When I began planning this, I wanted to look at the every man of Madison County throughout the last 200 years and really take a look at what life was like for the people in all eras of our existence so far,” Noe said. “And in different walks of life, different occupations, schools, different ages … I wanted to include as many people as I could.”
In doing so, her work took 18 months to complete and wound up being 37 panels, all displayed on the second floor of City Hall.
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
