TARBORO — The Town of Tarboro's 250th birthday party next month picked up some big guns Monday.

Well, one cannon anyway, a 105-mm howitzer and its crew from Fort Bragg that support 82nd Airborne units.

The  250th Celebration Semiquincentennial Jamboree begins at 3 p.m. on Saturday Sept. 25.

It will be kicked off with a children’s parade across Main Street and down to the party stage on the corner of the second block of the Common (east side of Main Street).

Leading the parade will be Paperhand Puppet Intervention, an intrepid group of entertainers that were in town for the 250th Celebration kickoff on Jan. 18.

The group makes giant masks and puppets out of all kinds of recycled materials. The children, along with some adult helpers will be wearing the masks and transporting the huge giant puppets.

In addition to staging their unusual parades, Paperhand, home-based in Saxapahaw, present their shows in museums, schools and workshops. This group, headed by Donovan Zimmerman, takes as its mission “to make work that inspires people, promotes social change and is deeply satisfying for everyone involved.”

Laura Webb Temple and Teresa DeLoatch Bryant are co-chairwomen for the party. Other party committee members include Pat Pettruzziello and Cami Parker. They are busy lining up plenty of volunteers to help out on party day and are working on some special party decoration ideas.

Keynote speaker will be U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-1st District, who is making a special trip from Washington for this event. Mayor Donald Morris will be the emcee.

Handmade cards containing birthday greetings to the Town will be presented to the mayor. These cards were made by school children at The Happening last May.

Ten-year-old Adrian E. Chaves, winner of the poetry contest sponsored in March by the Edgecombe County Memorial Library and the 250th Celebration Committee, will read his poem  “My Town.”

 A  group of school children will sing "Happy Birthday" to Tarboro and the special “made in Tarboro” Sara Lee birthday cake will be cut and distributed to the visiting dignitaries. Sara Lee is providing free packaged Sara Lee cake slices for the public in several varieties. Lemonade and water also will be available.

Most of the afternoon will be filled with the music of TrainWreck, a well-known,  high energy and very entertaining band from Greenville. Heading this eclectic group is Adrian Watts, with Jerry Coyle as lead vocalist. Other band members are Rick Turnage, drummer; Puncho Forrest, bass and vocals; Clay King, sax, keyboard and vocals, and Jeremy Rodgers, trombone and trumpet.  TrainWreck plays for weddings, festivals, nightclubs and private parties, mixing funk music, rhythm and blues, rock and top 40. They will be performing in October at The Seafood Festival in Morehead City and the Sweet Potato Festival in Snow Hill.

Food vendors will be on Saint Patrick Street near the stage location. The vendors will be charging for their wares; everything else is free. Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets and enjoy this  event paid for by local corporations, businesses and individuals.

“Matt Williamson, a Tarborean transplanted to Austin, by way of San Francisco, has put our Semiquincentennial Jamboree on his Facebook page and with his numerous contacts has reached a number of former Tarboro residents, many in the Tarboro High School classes of 1982-86, who are planning to return to Town for the birthday Celebration," Temple  said.

"We are hoping that other classes will pick up on this idea and come back home for the party and other events going on that day.”

Other events taking place on the same day are Living History Day at the Blount-Bridgers House from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.,  the Tour of Homes sponsored by the Edgecombe Garden Club from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the Ghost Walk on the Town Common, beginning at 6:30 p.m. and running on the half hour.

“It’s going to be a busy and fun-filled day," Temple said. "We hope for nice weather and that everybody will turn out and have a really great time.” 

250th Celebration Committee members are John L. Jenkins II, chairman; Edward Roberson and Betty Temple, co-chairmen; Buddy Hooks, Troy Lewis, Bobbie Martin, Farrar Martin, Shirley Mays, Raymond Privott, Lovie Rooks, Jessie Smoot, Chip Wigginton, and ex-officio, Mayor Donald Morris and Town Manager Sam Noble.