RALEIGH (Jan. 9, 2009)— Governor-elect Beverly Perdue’s inaugural parade Saturday, Jan. 10, will include music and colorful historic figures. Featuring a theme of “North Carolina: The Future Starts Now” the public and free parade will begin at Davie and Fayetteville streets in downtown Raleigh at approximately 12:30 p.m. following the swearing in ceremonies.
State Historic Sites participating in the Inaugural Parade include Tryon Palace and Gardens (New Bern) Fife and Drum Corps and Jonkonnu; Ft. Dobbs State Historic Site (Statesville), the N.C. Provincial Regiment dressed like they did in 1756 during the French and Indian War; Roanoke Island Festival Park (Manteo), Elizabethan singers and characters with a replica 16th century boat; the N.C. Transportation Museum (Spencer), a vintage 1935 Ford Roadster State Highway Patrol vehicle.
“This is a signal honor and it certainly reflects the importance of the state’s history to Governor-elect Perdue and her new administration,” said Keith A. Hardison, Director, Division of State Historic Sites and Properties, Department of Cultural Resources. “Our entries encompass several regions and periods in history with an emphasis on the state’s formative years” said Hardison.
The five N.C. Historic Sites groups in the parade will highlight North Carolina’s rich past beginning with the tiny settlement created on Roanoke Island in 1584 and ending with the former Spencer Shops near Salisbury, which serviced trains and locomotives from the late 1800s to the 1970s.
For more information on N.C. Historic Sites, go to http://www.nchistoricsites.org. N.C. Historic Sites is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history, and culture. Join the Cultural Resources 2009 theme observance of “Treasure N.C. Culture.” For more information, visit www.ncculture.com.