Jacksonville Bicentennial Gala To Be Held Saturday

By Seth Gabriel on January 24, 2025 at 10:21am

The City of Jacksonville begins its year-long celebration of its bicentennial on Saturday.

The gala will be held Saturday, starting with a cocktail hour at 6PM, dinner at 7PM, and live entertainment starting at 8PM with Diamond Empire at Hamilton’s North East. The gala is being hosted by the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Tickets are just $50 per person and can be purchased at the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce, 155 West Morton Avenue. Call to reserve your tickets with payment by phone at 217-245-2174.

Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Kristin Jamison, who sits on the city’s bicentennial celebration committee says that the year-long celebration has been in the making for over a year and a half after Mayor Andy Ezard formed the group. Jamison says that the group has reached out to many of the city’s organizations who have annual meetings and fundraisers to use the city’s 200th birthday as a rallying point for community participation and also a celebration of the bicentennial: “We have a list of events on the Jacksonville Convention & Visitors Bureau website that shows things that are happening throughout the year. Then, our committee decided to plan some events starting with the Gala on Saturday and culminating with a ceremony on October 4th in Downtown Jacksonville, which have a day’s worth of activities including live entertainment, a time capsule will be unearthed, and a special aerial show to end the festivities.”

Settlers from New England founded Jacksonville on 160 acres in 1825.