When Jim Sayre of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, began growing a beard in the late 1970s, people started to point out his resemblance to the nation‘s 16th president. So he entered an Abraham Lincoln lookalike contest and won. His interest in Lincoln was already high, so he began memorizing his speeches. Eventually, that led to 25 years of Sayre interpreting Lincoln‘s life for school groups, civic organizations and at Lincoln‘s birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
Planned events Last week, Sayre was among hundreds who gathered there to kick off two years of celebrating the 200th anniversary of Lincoln‘s birth. The celebration began Tuesday February 12 with a 10:30 a.m. ceremony featuring first lady Laura Bush 3 miles from the 16-footby18-foot dirt-floor cabin where Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1809. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,Ž said Sayre, 72. A host of events have been scheduled through 2010 around the country, particularly in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, where Lincoln spent much of his life. Several events are scheduled for Washington D. C. Lincoln “really talked about the hope that he could accomplish something so that his story could be told after he died,Ž said Doris Kearns Goodwin, a historian and author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. “And here we are 200 years later, it‘s fantastic. It‘s something he could never have hoped in his wildest dreams.Ž In 2006, Kearns Goodwin was among 10 notable historians naming Lincoln, who won the Civil War and ended slavery, the person who had the greatest impact on U. S. history.
Among the planned celebrations for the president: * Indiana - Lincoln City will be the site of a celebration on Mother‘s Day, May 11, at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. Lincoln lived in Indiana from age 7 to 21. “Those are very important formative years,Ž said Connie Nass, chairwoman of the Indiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Part of the event will include 5,000 Boy and Girl Scouts camping out and attending events.
* Illinois - Bicentennial planners are scheduling an event for Feb. 12, 2009, in Springfield and celebrations in August and October of the Lincoln-Stephen Douglas debates. * Washington, D. C. - On Feb. 2, 2009, there will be a Lincoln gala and the premiere of the documentary Looking for Lincoln. Ten days later, on Lincoln‘s birthday, there will be a Lincoln Memorial rededication.
* From Aug. 16 to 23, The Tour de Lincoln bicycle ride will snake through Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois taking in the Lincoln historical sites.
Bicentennial Additional programs across the USA will include classroom lessons, town hall meetings, an evening of poetry in Washington, D. C., period balls and lectures. The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission has established a website for these and other events at abrahamlincoln200.org. The U. S. Mint plans to release four penny designs and a bicentennial coin. The U. S. Postal Service is expected to issue commemorative stamps, according to the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Harold Holzer, a co-chair of the national commission, hopes the bicentennial renews interest in studying Lincoln. “It‘s a great example, in an election year no less, of what leadership is and should be, he said.
