Monday, June 24 will be a historic day for the City of Troy in a historic year for the State of Alabama as the City of Troy celebrates the dedication and unveiling “The City of Troy: Our People, Our Places, Our Stories,” an ALABAMA200 Celebration Mural.

The doors of the Johnson Center for Arts will open at 6 p.m. and the community is invited to be a part of this historic event.

The day’s event will begin with a welcome and recognition of special guests by Troy Mayor Jason A. Reeves. Stephanie Baker, Reunion Troy chair, will give an overview of the mural project and Alex McLendon, mural artist, will outline the process and perspective of the project.

The unveiling of Troy’s historic mural will be at 6:30 p.m. followed by a behind the scenes look at the mural project and an informal panel discussion in JCA’s upper gallery.

McLendon’s watercolor prints of the mural project will be available for sale at the Johnson Center Monday night and going forward.

Troy’s mural project has been months in the making and was planned in support of ALABAMA200, Alabama’s Bicentennial Celebration, which the Alabama Bicentennial Commission declared a three-year event.

The Commission realized early on that a one-year celebration could not do justice to the nation’s storied history. So, the state’s people were slated for celebration in 2017, its places in 2018 and its stories in 2019.

The Troy Reunion Committee elected to tell the city’s history visually. The idea was to add a mural to those already in place around the city that would celebrate Troy’s people, places and stories dating back to 1843 when the city was incorporated.

Pam Smith, retired Charles Henderson High School art teacher, was asked to coordinate the mural project and McLendon, a Trojan and senior art student at Troy University, was enlisted as the artist for the project.

Based on community input and historical research, the Troy Reunion Committee chose the people and places to be included on the mural. The chosen site was the East Walnut Street wall of the City of Troy Tourism and Public Relations building.

For several weeks, McLendon, along with art students from Charles Henderson and Pike Liberal Arts high schools and volunteers from the Colley Senior Complex, shared their talents in an effort to tell the stories of the people and places have provided the foundation for the City of Troy.

The stage is now set for the unveiling and dedication of the mural. The extended Troy community is invited to share in this historic event at 6 p.m. Monday at the Johnson Center for the Arts.