By Mary Thurwachter
Lantana has a big birthday coming up in 2021 — its centennial — and plans for the celebration are already percolating.
At the July 22 council meeting, Town Clerk Nicole Dritz outlined proposals from the Centennial Committee.
Suggestions include antique car and boat shows, carnival rides, a talent contest, stilt walkers dressed in old-time costumes, and food trucks.
While most of the activities would be held on one day — a Saturday in April 2021 — a centennial logo design contest would be held in 2020 and 100 trees with commemorative numbered tags on them would be planted throughout 2021.
The committee proposed a book on Lantana, and council member Lynn Moorhouse suggested enlisting the help of the Historical Society, which he says has an abundance of information and historical photos.
Council member Phil Aridas said fireworks should be part of the celebration, even if money had to come from the town’s reserves. Moorhouse said a possible alternative to fireworks would be a laser show.
Mayor Dave Stewart said he thought many of the events could be sponsored by local businesses.
And resident Erica Wald suggested the town’s 100th birthday would be a good time to bury a time capsule.
Other ideas presented included renaming a park or creating a new one in honor of the centennial, a “name the seagull in the town’s logo” contest, new town banners promoting the 100-year celebration, and a new piece of public art. New welcome signs for the town were another idea.
The centennial budget would be roughly $50,000, split between two fiscal years (2020 and 2021), Dritz said.
Members of the Centennial Committee, formed late last year, are town Parks and Recreation supervisor Nadine Shawah, community planner Tiffany Kapner, Police Chief Sean Scheller, town resident Lyn Tate, Dritz and an unnamed representative from the Chamber of Commerce.
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