Tickets are now on sale for the NAACP’s annual Black Tie Banquet.

Dianna Bascomb, president of the Pike County NAACP, said the banquet is the organizations major annual fundraiser and also serves a greater purpose.

“Our future leaders are our seniors, so we award scholarships to students at each of the local schools,” Bascomb said. “It is also an event to bring the entire community together.”

Bascomb said the main change to this year’s banquet will be an opportunity for local mayors to speak briefly on what they have been able to provide for their communities.

“We want to be proactive about the upcoming 2020 election,” Bascomb said. “We want them to be able to present what they’ve done for their communities; that is essentially their platform.”

The guest speaker will be Alabama attorney U.W. Clemon, former district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. He was among the first 10 African-American lawyers admitted to the Alabama Bar. In 1974, he was one of the first two African-Americans elected to the State Senate since Reconstruction.

The banquet will be held at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, in the Trojan Center Ballrooms on the Troy University campus.

Tickets are on sale for $40 each and tables are also available for $500 and $1,000 each.

For tickets or additional information, contact the NAACP at 282-5049.