this year twenty thirty will be the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of the town of jericho as with many other vermont towns which were chartered in the early seventeenth sixty's by governor bending wentworth of then the providence of new hampshire jericho's charter date is june seventh seven hundred sixty three so on this june seventh tw it will be the two hundred fiftieth sesquicentennial anniversary of the town of jericho the jericho historical society has been very much involved with the programs and the celebration events for this occasion we are currently the jericho historical society is currently hosting its winter two thousand and thirteen lecture series with three prominent vermont personalities who will be giving a lecture at the old mill in jericho the first lecture begins this week with mark breen a meteorologist fairbanks museum in st johnsbury of course of the famous eye on the sky weather report fame in march david sheets the curator of the state house and the st montpellier will be coming to jericho to speak on our statehouse he is a national figure well known and will have some excellent slides to illustrate his lecture as will mark green then in april on april eighteenth thursday april eighteenth tom bennett bird the new director of the shelbourne museum will be coming to jericho to speak on  winslow homer landscapes excuse me of winslow homer seascapes and vermont landscapes then on town meeting day which is tuesday march fifth this year the jericho boy scouts will be reading to the gathered citizens of jericho at town meeting the actual original the text of the original charter june fifth seven hundred sixty three  issued by governor benny wentworth this will be quite an occasion for the young scouts to participate in this civic event the official town celebration will be on saturday june first  at the green in jericho center which is appropriate the green was given to the town by lewis cheapened who lived in jericho center where the settler farm is today and he was jericho 's first town clerk the vermont national guard fortieth army band will perform give a major band concert from about one hour to an hour and forty five minutes  duration and the will be a picnic on the park everyone brings their own old fashioned picnic so invite your family your friends and your neighbors to come to this splendid event at this time also the town will officially recognized descendants of the first settlers who came to jericho the brown family of course joseph and hannah brown their descendants here  faith family and the hale it family would still live in jericho than other descendants of the other families such as the mrs messenger's the chaitin's rude chittenden house we'll try to find some of these descendants for you also on saturday the first of june the town hall will be featuring photographs of jericho through its history as well as paintings of jericho from my collection so that will be very interesting including there will be town two or us of our three historic villages in jericho of course jericho corners jericho center and riverside so all in all it will be quite a celebratory year for the town of jericho and many people are participating and particularly we want everyone to come and to have an old fashioned picnic on the green in jericho center on saturday the first of june do come early to these events there will be big turnouts and i would plan to come for the picnic say at one of at five o'clock on the saturday so you will be there in place when the fortieth army band for the national guard begins their splendid concert we're very pleased the nashville monash guard is participating in this event as well because they have been an integrated part of jericho of not national guard for over eighty years now with the originally the fort even allen artillery range which began in jericho in the early one nine hundred twenty s and its course it's been there as everyone is familiar all these years but has been particularly used in the last twenty thirty years much more actively by the vermont national guard so it's very we're delighted that they're able to participate with the town officials on our birthday our anniversary event i look forward to hearing from any volunteers and groups who would like to join us in the planning and organization of these special events young you know teenagers boys and girls please come and help out and look forward again for this very special occasion on saturday june first in the park in j