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Iredell County America250 committee previews countywide events, school contests and preservation projects
Summary
County library and partner groups told commissioners the Iredell County America250 planning effort will launch a central website, publish a third heritage volume, hold student contests and pursue preservation partnerships starting this fall.
Julie Moore, a staff member from the Iredell County Public Library, updated the Board of Commissioners on Sept. 2 on the county’s America250 planning work and the schedule for countywide events and educational projects.
The planning effort will centralize event listings and resources at iredell250nc.com, Moore said, with a target website launch around Oct. 1. The site will host a community calendar that organizations across the county can use to list events, programs and contests, and the Marketing and Tourism subcommittee is coordinating a unified social media presence.
"The Marketing and Tourism Committee will be reviewing and approving the website, which is going to be iredell250nc.com at their September meeting. The website should go live around October 1," Moore said.
Shelley Taylor, chair of the literary subcommittee, said the committee has begun work on Heritage of Iredell County, Volume 3. Taylor said the committee is soliciting community submissions, has printed 2,000 brochures to encourage preorders and submissions, and set a submission deadline of Dec. 31, 2025. The manuscript is due to the publisher on Feb. 1, 2026; the publisher named by the committee is Donning & Walsworth, which produced the first two volumes. If the schedule holds, Taylor said, the book could be released in December 2026.
"Things are now underway for the production of the Heritage of Iredell County Volume 3," Taylor said.
Marlene Scott, director of community engagement for Statesville City Schools and chair of the education subcommittee, said teacher-led subcommittees (elementary, middle and high school) have prepared classroom resources, field-trip materials, and several contests for students. Scott said prizes have been donated for art, digital media and essay contests; per the committee’s remarks, first prize for each contest is $500 and the committee stated a second-prize amount in its remarks.
Scott also described a statewide ‘‘county flag challenge’’ for fourth-grade students and said the committee is exploring participation in a Liberty Tree initiative, which includes planting and marking an official Liberty Tree in each county and a broader reforestation project with a stated goal of up to 25,000 trees in 2026.
Brian Summers, chair of the Iredell County preservation subcommittee and vice president of the Friends of the Library, described partnerships the subcommittee is pursuing to highlight county history. Summers said the subcommittee has established contacts with the U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society and is exploring work that connects county sites — from Love Valley and Mooresville to Troutman and Statesville — to national historical themes tied to figures such as James Iredell and Zebulon B. Vance.
Summers also noted local marker opportunities, saying there is no historical marker for a site where Tom Dooley was hanged in Iredell County and that the subcommittee intends to explore recognition and preservation of such sites.
The board received the update for information; Moore and subcommittee chairs answered commissioners’ questions but no board action was required.
Ending
Moore and the subcommittee chairs said they will return with further updates as work on the website, contests and heritage book proceeds. The committee’s next public milestones include the website review in September and the mobile library ribbon-cutting scheduled for Sept. 15 at 2 p.m., information the presenters said had been shared with stakeholders.
