The Bicentennial Committee will meet on Monday, February 4 at 6pm at the community room of Tailgater Burger Company in downtown Hope, Arkansas. The building is located at 101 South Main Street in Hope. Public is welcome to attend. Questions email hempstead200@gmail.com

Last call! Now is the time to send your letter to the future for the time capsule. Fill out a form at the Hope Chamber of Commerce or download a form and turn it in at https://hcb.wildapricot.org/page-1075220.

Just a few days let to complete your passport and get a bicentennial token. Great weekend ahead to get it completed. Again if you can't find a stamp you can take a selfie to prove you were at the sight. Pick up a passport at the Hope-Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce or Lagrone Williams Hardware. More information online at https://hcb.wildapricot.org/Passport.

Now is the time to get a great Christmas gift that has a local connection. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the formation of Hempstead County, Arkansas, the Hempstead County Bicentennial Committee has souvenir T-shirts, silver coins and bowie knives for sale. Orders are being taken for commemorative silver coins at $50 each and Bowie knives for$500.
Proceeds from the sale of the souvenirs will go to help fund projects being completed by the committee. Souvenirs are available for purchase at the Hope-Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce or Lagrone Williams Hardware. You can also purchase online at www.hempstead200.com.
All products for sale or printed by the committee are made by people and businesses of Hempstead County.

The Bicentennial Committee will meet on Monday, December 10 at 6pm at the community room of Tailgater Burger Company in downtown Hope, Arkansas. The building is located at 101 South Main Street in Hope. Public is welcome to attend. Questions email hempstead200@gmail.com

Now is the time to enter a float parade. We would like to see floats from all the different communities of the county. Contact Ben Brazzel to enter at ben.brazzel1975@gmail.com.

The Southwest Arkansas Arts Council is sponsoring a Bicentennial Poetry Contest in conjunction with the 200th anniversary of the formation of Hempstead County.

Poems should have either an historic theme or be a combination of past, present and future literary view of Hempstead County (which when founded was part of six area counties). The contest is open to any citizen of Southwest Arkansas and all entries will be put on display at at the Arts Station in Hope at 200 E. Division Street.

Winning poems will be selected in the following age categories: 18 and over; 14-17; 10-13; under 10. Poems may be in any form, including free verse to haiku to limerick and any other style. Prizes will be award for the first place winners in the four categories as well as a Best of Show award.

To enter, poems can be sent to SWAAC13@gmail.com, no later than Dec. 7, or mailed to P.O. Box 1004, Hope, 71801. There is a limited of three entries per person.

The Bicentennial Committee will meet on Monday, November 5 at 6pm at the community room of Tailgater Burger Company in downtown Hope, Arkansas. The building is located at 101 South Main Street in Hope. Public is welcome to attend. Questions email hempstead200@gmail.com

Hempstead County Bicentennial Travelers!

We congratulate all of those who have visited all 20 stamping sites in the Hempstead County Bicentennial Passport Program!

Sandra May, Hope
Lillian Anderson, Hope
Sawyer Dixon, Hope
Julia Bobo, Hope
Lydia Bobo, Hope
Haskell Morse, Springhill
Ricky Clayton, Fulton
Jerrelene Clayton, Fulton

You still have time to complete your passport by December 31, 2018. Again if you can't find the stamp you can take a selfie of yourself to turn in. Click the "Passport" tab for more information.

A team from the Environmental and Spatial Technology program at Hope High School presented the Hope School Board with a Hempstead County Bicentennial Year research project Monday night that offers insights into the development of public education in Hempstead County.

HHS EAST instructor Adrienne Ware introduced students Jacqueline Culley and Drake Mason, who collaborated with Elizabeth Bamber and Jackson Bowlin on the project for almost a year in developing a final oral history CD and accompanying overview. Ware said the students were approached through the Hempstead County Bicentennial Year Committee to compile the project. A copy of the project will be included in a bicentennial time capsule that will be buried at the new Hempstead County Courthouse during ceremonies in December.

Mason and Culley presented a copy of the project to Board President Willie Buck during the meeting.

“Two Hundred Years of Education in Hempstead County” spans the range of public education in Hempstead County from its earliest days in local Roman Catholic Church parish schools to today through a series of oral history interviews and accompanying research.

“We had to learn completely new technology to us; we had to learn how to use microfilm,” Culley said. “And, we had to learn how to use SARA’s card catalogue.”

She said the team took two field research trips to the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives in the Historic Washington State Park to develop a starting point and other critical research.

“For this project, we interviewed a lot of people, like former and current Hempstead County educators and other people,” Mason said.

In response to questions from the board, Mason said he was surprised to learn of the beginnings of public education in the county through parochial schools.

Mason said that he and Culley completed some details of the project after Bamber and Bowlin graduated in May, 2018.

“This project is different from anything we had ever done,” the project statement says. “We had to learn how to research and pay attention to detail.”

The approximately 40-minute CD-based video includes a two-part introduction, 10 individual interviews, and a concluding segment. The video is available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/v6i9ybhaVnQ