Sebastian centennial (2024)

Sebastian celebrated its 100th year with centennial-themed city events throughout 2024 and a December 8, 2024 birthday celebration at Riverview Park (City of Sebastian).

Sebastian spent all of 2024 marking a century as a municipality. A Centennial Committee of residents and city staff attached a centennial theme to the city's regular calendar, from the January riverfront art festival through the November Sebastian Clambake, and the year ended with a full day at Riverview Park. The City of Sebastian calendar for December 2024 lists the City of Sebastian Centennial Celebration at Riverview Park on December 8, 2024, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, one hundred years to the day after the town's first incorporation vote.

Outside recognition came from Tallahassee and Washington. The Florida House adopted HR 8071, a resolution by Rep. Brackett that acknowledges the 100th anniversary celebration of the City of Sebastian, by publication on March 4, 2024. In November, Rep. Bill Posey entered a centennial tribute to Sebastian into the Congressional Record. Sebastian, with 25,759 residents in the U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 count, is the largest city in Indian River County.

Sebastian was marking the December 8, 1924 meeting at which local voters incorporated the Town of Sebastian (Congressional Record).

The date is December 8, 1924. Rep. Posey's Congressional Record statement of November 13, 2024, gives the details of that night: during a meeting on December 8, 1924, at 7:30 p.m., eighty-two of the 105 registered voters were present and voted to incorporate, choosing the name Town of Sebastian, adopting an official seal, and electing a mayor, five aldermen, a clerk and a marshal.

The statement also records that the town became the City of Sebastian through re-incorporation in 1925, the same year the Florida Legislature created Indian River County. Sebastian Daily, writing in 2022, gave the incorporation date as December 8, 1924, which is why the city chose that Sunday in December 2024 for its main celebration. Posey's tribute notes that the town took its name from the St. Sebastian River, and that in the 1880s the settlement had been called New Haven after Thomas New, whose post office was the first between Melbourne and Fort Pierce.

The Sebastian centennial ran from the 2022 task force resolution to the December 8, 2024 celebration at Riverview Park, a century after the 1924 incorporation vote (Florida Senate).

The Sebastian centennial was planned by a committee of residents and city staff, after the Sebastian City Council took up a Centennial Task Force resolution in May 2022 (Sebastian Daily).

The planning ran more than two years. Sebastian Daily reported on May 9, 2022, that city officials would propose a resolution establishing a City of Sebastian Centennial Task Force at the City Council meeting of May 11, 2022, and that the task force would include Sebastian citizens. The paper wrote that, if passed, every city event could carry a centennial backdrop for the whole year, which is how 2024 played out.

By December 2023 a Centennial Committee, formed in the summer of 2023 with local citizens and city staff, had matched centennial programming to existing events. According to Sebastian Daily's December 9, 2023 preview, the plan included historical photo exhibitions, a special centennial magazine and displays, ending in a weekend of events on December 7 and 8, 2024, at Riverview Park.

The Sebastian City Council paid for the parade's centerpiece. In February 2024 the council approved $13,864.00 for the rental of Clydesdales and a carriage that holds 20 people. Mayor Ed Dodd polled the council; Councilman Fred Jones said yes, Councilman Chris Nunn noted the city only turns 100 once, and Councilman Bob McPartlan asked whether the price included pick-up.

The Sebastian centennial year was folded into the city's regular 2024 events, from the January riverfront art festival through the December Christmas parade (Sebastian Daily).

The December 2023 preview lists the month-by-month lineup. January 20 and 21 brought the Sebastian Riverfront Fine Arts and Music Festival; February 17, Art in the Park by the Sebastian River Art Club; March 15 to 17, River Days and the Craft Brew Hullabaloo; April 20, the Earth Day and Arbor Day celebrations; and July 4, the Fourth of July Freedom Festival with fireworks.

The fall carried most of the history programming. September 14 was billed as an Artist's Rendition of Sebastian's 100 Years, October 25 paired a Halloween costume contest with a Sebastian Police Department movie night, and November 8 to 10 was the Sebastian Clambake. The Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce held Light Up Night on December 6, which the city calendar lists from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM, and December 7 brought the Sebastian Rotary Brewfest and a Christmas parade with a centennial theme, run from Main Street to Riverview Park at 6:00 PM.

Schools took part as well. Sebastian River High School students were invited to write essays of up to 1,500 words on the theme 'The Unique Charm of Sebastian', with the winning essay set to appear in the official Sebastian 100 Magazine. Third through fifth graders at Sebastian Elementary, Pelican Island Elementary, Liberty Magnet Elementary and Treasure Coast Elementary, plus homeschooled students, were invited to a Centennial Coloring Competition.

On September 14, 2024, Sebastian City Hall hosted an open house with a centennial plaque unveiling and a centennial art show (Sebastian Daily).

Saturday, September 14, 2024, combined a City Hall open house with the centennial's art and history events. Sebastian Daily listed a centennial tent with merchandise, a centennial art show and a Centennial Plaque Unveiling at 12:30, which revealed a new centennial year plaque at Sebastian City Hall. The Sebastian Historical Museum ran a scavenger hunt and storytelling sessions the same day.

Next door, the Sebastian River Art Club presented its 'A Look Back in Time' gallery at the Art Center. The Vero News events calendar described it as a centennial exhibit of 40+ original paintings of historic Sebastian homes, buildings and landmarks, with art demonstrations and mini-masterpiece sales benefiting the Ecumenical Food Pantry.

On December 8, 2024, Sebastian held a Clydesdale parade on Indian River Drive, a day of events at Riverview Park and fireworks over the twin piers (Sebastian Daily).

The published schedule for Sunday, December 8, 2024, opened at 10:00 am with a parade of the Express Clydesdales pulling a 20-person carriage, joined by a Teddy Roosevelt reenactor, along Indian River Drive to Riverview Park. Roosevelt was a fitting guest: he created the Pelican Island bird refuge east of Sebastian in 1903. A welcome from the Sebastian City Council and other dignitaries followed at 10:30 am, then a Roosevelt-themed show, photos with the horses until 2:00 pm, a kids zone from noon to 5:00 pm, free birthday cupcakes and a Pioneer Day costume award at noon, and two bands. The day closed with fireworks at 6 pm over the twin piers across from Riverview Park.

Sebastian Daily reported that night that the Clydesdales, carrying local officials, marched down Indian River Drive and then stood for photos in Riverview Park, while children used bounce houses and games along the riverfront. Vero Beach Magazine, previewing the year in July 2024, had pointed to the same December 8 centennial birthday at Riverview Park as the high point, and quoted Mayor Ed Dodd that residents had ranked the city's parks as what they liked best about Sebastian. The choice of the riverfront park on U.S. 1 for the 100th birthday matched that result.