While the rest of the country is gearing up to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, members of the Jersey Shore community have been putting together efforts to celebrate its 200th anniversary throughout 2026.

The first of these will be on Sunday, March 15, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Independent Hose Company No. 1, next to the Jersey Shore Borough Hall, located at 130 Pennsylvania Ave.

The party will serve as a kickoff event to celebrate this historic birthday, like any birthday party with cake, ice cream and good company.

Mayor Lon Myers said that he and his committee have been hard at work making preparations for the party.

“We have banners going up through town and I’ve heard nothing but positive comments about the banners,” he said.

Myers said that he has reached out to people from Nippenose and Avis to “get people around the area.” He stated that invitations were sent out and “we handed out almost 2,000 flyers to this party.”

“I’ve talked many times about… everything that Jersey Shore has to offer is astounding. We have our own hospital, our own library, and it’s astounding for a community that’s one square mile,” the mayor said.

The mayor quoted one resident he encountered: “When I first moved here, I looked around to see what Jersey Shore had to offer for me and for my family, and we decided to stay.”

“There are going to be some historical displays,” Myers added.

For a little history on the borough’s origin, John Meginness’s History of Lycoming County has been the go-to resource. According to a chapter about Jersey Shore, parcels of land were granted to settlers in 1785.

“[The settlers] were… from Essex County, New Jersey, and from the part known at that day as the ‘Jersey Shore’,” the book said. It further stated that “as the settlement grew it came to be called ‘Jersey Shore’.”

However, the moniker was not originally welcomed.

“…the name was applied in derision by the Irish settlers in the Nippenose bottom, across the river,” the book said.

It seemed the name originally chosen was Waynesburg (in honor of Revolutionary War hero General “Mad” Anthony Wayne) but, according to Meginness’s book, “the title, ‘Jersey Shore,’ had obtained such notoriety that it prevailed, and when the act incorporating the borough was passed it distinctly said that the place ‘shall be called and styled the borough of Jersey Shore’.”

Thanks to that municipal act, the borough itself was created on March 15, 1826. The act defined the southern line as beginning at the lane near Porter Township, then westward by said lane, crossing the canal near the public bridge by the Jersey Shore cemetery, and continuing northerly near Nice’s lane.

Now, the current mayor wants to honor that history. He wants it known that the history here in Jersey Shore is worth celebrating for another two centuries.

“It starts at 2 p.m. and we’re going to have an opening ceremony, in which we’re going to have a Pledge of Allegiance, and we’re going to have Lizzy Butters sing the National Anthem, and then I’m going to introduce the special local guests,” Myers explained.

“It has been my privilege to be the mayor of Jersey Shore and the citizens have made this town great for two centuries, and I know the residents will make Jersey Shore great in the next two centuries. We are always making it a better life experience for the citizens of Jersey Shore.”

In the meantime, he wants the current citizens to come and have fun at the March 15th event.

“The day is mostly just having ice cream and cake and enjoying the celebration,” Myers said with a smile.