The Charlestown Beautification Committee is now accepting reservations for the Charlestown Bicentennial Birthday Ball. This semi-formal event is going to take place on Friday, June 13 at 6 p.m. at the Charlestown Arts & Enrichment Center. Period dress is encouraged but not required.
    Heather French Henry will be the guest speaker.
    Tickets are $25 each and include dancing and dinner prepared by Lakeside Reflections. Please send your reservations to CBC c/o Heather Mick, 304 Main Cross Street, Charlestown, IN 47111. Reservations must be received by May 30. Seating is limited so please reserve today for this once in a lifetime event.
    In preparation for the Ball, Kimberly Hassman of Shall We Dance Studio in New Albany and Louisville will be offering ballroom dance classes. The focus of the classes will be Swing, Rumba and Foxtrot. No experience is necessary. There will be 5 one-hour sessions. Classes will be held on Thursdays at 7:45 p.m. beginning May 8. The cost is $20 per couple. Please contact Lori at Moments Photography at 256-5614 for more details.

  The Charlestown Bicentennial Pageant is offering a $1,000 scholarship and for the first time an optional talent competition which also offers an additional $500 prize. Contestants can win either or both. Most photogenic and Miss Congeniality will also be recognized. This year will be special because of the Bicentennial. What young lady would not want to be crowned queen during the city’s 200^th birthday celebration?
   Also this year the queen will reign at the Charlestown Bicentennial Birthday Ball with former Miss America Heather French Henry as a guest speaker. She will be introduced to and photographed with Governor Mitch Daniels who will be the Grand Marshal for the parade and be recorded as the official Bicentennial Queen of our year long celebration.
   The Pageant will be held at the Arts & Enrichment Center on Sunday, June 8. Applications are available online at www.charlestownbicentennialcelebration.com or at City Hall.
   Please contact Linda Dornbush at 502-599-3865 or Donna Coomer at 256-7126.

     The Charlestown Beautification Committee invites everyone to participate in the celebration of their Bicentennial, and one way to be part of the preparation is by purchasing and wearing a colorful, commemorative t-shirt or polo with the bicentennial logo.
   The CBC has t-shirts and polos for sale in bright summer colors and white and can order special sizes and colors. The new Bicentennial 2008 shirts come in white, kiwi, classic pink, azalea (hot pink), jade orange, red, light blue, yellow, and ask (light athletic gray) with the city flag logo silk screened on the left front and the Bicentennial logo on the back. Prices for shirts are $10 for short-sleeved tees, $13 for long-sleeved tees, and $12 for women’s style v-neck tees.
   The polo style shirt is an Outer Banks golf shirt and has the "Generations of Pride" logo embroidered on the front. The polos can be ordered in butter yellow, bimini blue, white, spring green, navy or black, in sizes small through 3X. Price for men and women’s style polo shirts is $30.
   Samples of the t-shirts may be seen at City Hall, the New Washington State Bank, the Charlestown Pizza Company, and at State Farm Insurance in Charlestown. The new t-shirts and polos will also be for sale at various sites during May and at the Bicentennial Kick-off on the square early in June.
   Order may be placed by calling City Hall at 256-3422. The CBC has several shirts available now, with another order to be placed in May. They will also be available for purchase at the CBC booth during the Founder’s Day celebration June 26, 27, and 28. All proceeds from the shirt sales support the Bicentennial and Founder’s Day festival events. The schedule of events can be found at the CBC web site, www.CharlestownBicentennialCelebration.com.