To commemorate the 200th anniversary of Allen County’s incorporation, county officials and Visit Fort Wayne will host a Bicentennial Bash on Saturday, Nov. 16. 

Although the celebration is a few weeks away, the deadline to get your $75 ticket is Thursday, Oct. 31. 

It’s said on the Visit Fort Wayne website that the Bicentennial Bash will include a buffet dinner and “multiple live music performances.”

Block party in April

According to the Allen County website, “The Indiana General Assembly passed legislation in late 1823 designating a 660-square-mile area of northeast Indiana to be Indiana’s newest county. The legislation would take effect on April 1, 1824, and on that day Allen County was born. Named after Colonel John Allen, a military leader who helped relieve the siege of Fort Wayne during the War of 1812, Allen County is today home to nearly 400,000 residents.”

As the actual date of the creation and charter of Allen County is reckoned as April 1, 1824, the Bicentennial Bash is the culmination of a yearlong observation.

A kick-off celebration and block party at the Allen County Courthouse in downtown Fort Wayne was April 20. The keynote speaker was Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch with a number of public servants and dignitaries in attendance and a performance by Heartland Sings. 

In the ensuing block party, among other things, the St. Marys River was (briefly) dyed orange “with no harmful ecological impact to plants, animals, or people,” according to a press release from the Allen County Board of Commissioners.

Recruiting artists

At the Bicentennial Bash, they’ll reveal details about 15 “I Am Allen” sculptures appearing around the county. 

Each one, to start with, is a rather nondescript plain white squared-off monolith, made of fiberglass, 7-feet tall by 7-feet wide, and 3-feet deep. It spells out “IN” with a map of Indiana standing in for the “I” and Allen County shown protruding in the upper right-hand corner. 

Groups are sponsoring local artists to paint a colorful mural all around the surfaces of the sculpture, much like the considerably curvier mastodon sculptures that Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne stationed around Fort Wayne in 2005 to celebrate their 40th anniversary. 

The “I Am Allen” sculptures and murals will tell a part of the history of the county, particular to the neighborhood where the sculpture will be displayed.

Well-known public artist Bryan “Breadwig” Ballinger has been at work illustrating one of these sculptures that will appear in Hoagland. You’ve seen his murals on buildings around town; he’s a children’s book author and commercial illustrator who designs toys and teaches animation at Huntington University. 

Other artists that will have that sculptures scattered around the county are Mitchell Egly (Woodburn), Erin Salyers and Jared Applegate (Leo-Cedarville), Jordan Kurzen (St. Joseph Township), Jeremy Stroup (Huntertown), Suzanne Rhee (Harlan), Matthew Plett (Fort Wayne International Airport), Theoplis “Phresh Laundry” Smith III (Brewer Park in Fort Wayne), Julie Wall (Pufferbelly Trail in Fort Wayne), Tim Parsley (downtown Fort Wayne), Terry Ratliff (downtown Fort Wayne), Jeff Ando Anderson (Monroeville), Bonnie Andrews (Larez Neighborhood in Fort Wayne), America Carrillo (New Haven), and Debera Kuntz (Zanesville).

More ways to mark occasion

There have been many other ways the county’s 200th anniversary have been celebrated, such as Country Heritage Winery in LaOtto having a Bicentennial Wine they call Brianna that comes in commemorative bottles.

Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana launched the 200 Acts of Kindness campaign in May, inviting individuals in Allen County to carry out and record 200 acts. Folks have been posting about it on the 200 Acts of Kindness: Allen County Facebook group. People who have logged their 200 acts will be recognized at the Bash.

Also at the Bash, Amp Lab at Electric Works will reveal details about the Allen County Bicentennial time capsule. Their students have collected and curated artifacts submitted by the community. 

At the Bash, a new flag for Allen County will also be revealed.

Events in 2024 aside, whether you can attend the Bicentennial Bash or not, Whatzup suggests that you spend an afternoon at the History Center on East Berry Street. In its museum exhibits, you can learn from the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society about centuries of the region’s history, from the times of the Native Americans through the arrival of European immigrants to the present day. 

I spent some time there on Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown day on Sept. 8, and I learned about the populations, businesses, and industries that have come and gone, prospered and passed, and where we are today.

Like the Bicentennial Bash organizers say, “Remember our Past, Celebrate our Present, and Imagine our Future.”