Bicentennial Bash to set tone for celebration

Though the official commemoration began in January, and the city’s actual 200th birthday falls on Dec. 13, next weekend’s Bicentennial Bash at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater sets the tone for the celebratory year.

The free daylong Bash begins at 1 p.m. next Saturday, March 30, with an expansive kids’ zone sprawled across the western plaza of the amphitheater, something like the circus set up for the Fourth of July events, only larger, according to Kellee Reinhart, marketing/communications chair for the all-volunteer Tuscaloosa Bicentennial Commission. For comestibles, there’ll be food trucks, and the amphitheater’s food and drink vendors.

From headliners on, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit to St. Paul & the Broken Bones to the Commodores to Blind Boys of Alabama, musicians playing the amphitheater stage stem from Alabama roots. To the east, a TTown 200 Stage will be constructed for local, up-and-coming acts to rotate in as the venue’s mainstage acts set up. The evening will conclude with fireworks following the set by Green Hill native Isbell, a four-time Grammy winner who had back-to-back No. 1 albums in 2015′s “Something More Than Free” and 2017′s “The Nashville Sound.”

“It was Tim Parker (business owner and Bicentennial Commission co-chair) at one of our very earliest meetings, gosh, a year and a half or more ago,” Reinhart said, “who said ‘Let’s all think big when it comes to having a music event in the spring,’ to make it a true treat for the whole community.”

No tickets are required. Seating will be first-come, first-served, with the exception of reserved boxes above the orchestra level. Should the venue meet its roughly 7,500 capacity, amphitheater staff will be standing the gates to let one in for every one out; organizers expect crowds to flow throughout the day.

Down front, “There’ll be a partial pit for about 250 to 300 standing,” said Sarah Elizabeth Heggem, program director for Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports, which is helping produce the event. “The rest will be open seating, until we get to the spaces at the back for sponsors.”

Thanks to program sponsors such as Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, the DCH system and Coca-Cola, along with donors including the City of Tuscaloosa, University of Alabama, and TTS, all Bash events will be free of charge

“We have successfully raised over a million dollars to help underwrite a whole year’s worth of activities, the educational component as well as the festivities,” Reinhart said.

Numerous Tuscaloosa 200-related events will occur through the next several months, concluding with the grand finale Friday Dec. 13, the 200th anniversary of the day Tuscaloosa incorporated, one day before the state. There’ll be an unveiling, in the Park at Manderson Landing, of Caleb O’Connor’s bicentennial sculpture, a 10-foot tall bronze representation of Minerva, the Roman goddess, releasing an owl symbolizing wisdom, inspired by the image on UA’s seal. 

Also Dec. 13, the Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority has moved this year’s West Alabama Christmas Parade to that evening, from its usual Monday night slot.

“Between now and then, there’ll be a number of events for people to celebrate, educate and look forward to the future,” Reinhart said.

Here’s the schedule for the March 30 Bash:

‒ 1 p.m. -- Gates and kids’ zone open

‒ 2 -- Lamont landers Band, main stage

‒ 3 -- Blind Boys of Alabama, main

‒ 3:45 -- Early James and The Latest, TTown 200

‒ 4:15 -- Moon Taxi, main

‒ 5 -- The Allen Tolbert Unit, TTown 200

‒ 5:30 -- The Commodores (minus Lionel Ritchie), main

‒ 6:15 -- Matt Jones, TTown 200

‒ 8 -- Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, main

‒ 9 -- Fireworks.

For information on the clear bag policy, and prohibited items, see www.tuscaloosaamphitheater.com. Free shuttle services will run all day March 30, from the downtown parking deck at 601 23rd Ave. To learn more about the year’s other bicentennial events, see www.tuscaloosa200.com. 

Bicentennial Bash