Bentleyville bicentennial to highlight history
Jim Herman, portraying Sheshbazzar Bentley Jr., and Lyle Hartzell, as Uncle Sam, are shown during a fundraiser for the Bentleyville bicentennial. You can see them this weekend at the celebration in Bentleyville.
Joyce Cherok, a volunteer with Bentleyville Bicentennial Committee, shows off a T-shirt for sale in the group’s general store at 610 Main St. as it prepares for the borough’s anniversary celebration.
Bentleyville knows the sweetness of victory.
In 1960, the town of less than 3,000 won a national contest sponsored by Kraft Corp., with residents selling more than 55,000 bags of sticky candy and securing money used to build Caramel Park, the town’s baseball field.
“People to this day say they have bags of caramel from 1960 in their freezer,” said Lisa Stout-Bashioum, president of Bentleyville Bicentennial Committee.
That triumph and other milestones of the small town’s history are part of a five-day celebration that will start Thursday.
That history began March 4, 1816, with an announcement in a newspaper by Sheshbazzar Bentley Jr. saying he was founding “Bentleysville.” The land, which was along Pigeon Creek, was part of the family estate.
“There were these small stores, but it was mostly an agricultural area, and the Bentley family had a grist mill where they ground grain,” Stout-Bashioum said, adding there was also a sawmill on the land.
The kick-off banquet Thursday will feature old-fashioned food catered by Hog Fathers BBQ and 19th-century spirits to commemorate the era of the town’s founding.
Bentleyville will also commemorate the 1960 caramel-selling contest during a throwback baseball game between two Bentworth Bronco teams wearing 1960s-style uniforms in Caramel Park 6 p.m. Friday.
“It’s a game for fun,” Stout-Bashioum said.
The bicentennial committee is still accepting registration for a “Run With Sheshbazzar 5K Run/Walk” at 8 a.m. Saturday. Other events that day include a veterans’ tribute at noon in Richardson Park, a 5 p.m. parade on Main Street and fireworks.
The committee had some early help from borough resident Jim Herman, who’s appeared dressed as Bentley to promote the festival.
“He looked enough like the original to dress up like him, and he’s been doing it,” Stout-Bashioum said.
In another nod to the Bentleys’ legacy, a nondenominational service will be held at Bentleyville Union Holiness Meeting Grounds, which was founded by Bentley’s daughter, Martha Jane Stephens, in 1867, 10 a.m. Sunday.
For more information and a complete list of events, visit bentleyvillebicentennial.com.