EBENSBURG — Borough and Cambria County officials will gather outside of the Cambria County Courthouse at 2 p.m. Sunday to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Ebensburg Borough’s incorporation.

Coinciding with the Art in Bloom spring art show, which takes place Saturday and Sunday inside the courthouse, the ceremony will open with a bell ringing, invocation and welcoming remarks from county commissioners, Mayor Randy Datsko, borough council President Doug Tusing and a representative from the Cambria County Historical Society.

Entries in the spring art show will be on display from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, said Danea Koss, the borough’s community development director.

Koss said the Art in Bloom committee created an anniversary category to encourage artwork that’s “significant to Ebensburg in some way.”

About a dozen people signed up with entries in that category, but borough officials won’t see any of the actual entities until they’re received Thursday, Koss said.

“We’re really excited to see what people come back with,” Koss said.

Ebensburg was founded in the 1790s, but this Sunday marks a significant milestone of when the town was incorporated, Datsko said, noting officials found the original minutes of the first borough council meeting held on April 27, 1825.

Datsko said he plans to talk about “some interesting things” from those minutes at the ceremony, including the fact that if a horse was traveling too fast in the borough, its owner would receive a fine.

Some of the issues or concerns in the borough are the same now as they were 200 years ago when the population consisted of about 150 people, Datsko said.

Today, Ebensburg has a population of 3,829 people with a flourishing downtown and thriving businesses, Koss said.

“It’s great to see the success that we’ve had here and we just hope that it continues for another 200 (years),” she said.

Cambria County Commissioner Tom Chernisky said Ebensburg is a great place to live, work, volunteer and play.

The borough has indoor and outdoor courts at the Ebensburg Tennis Center, several active classes at the Young Peoples Community Center and outdoor recreational opportunities to hike, bike and walk on the Ghost Town Trail and its C&I Extension, Chernisky said.

The borough also has an “inviting” downtown, a “walkable community” and “a great quality of life,” according to Chernisky.

“They leverage the assets of what they have,” Chernisky said. “Ebensburg gets it. Ebenbsurg has no boundaries. Ebensburg is a great community.”

The Ebensburg Main Street Partnership, which sponsors monthly events like the Art in Bloom show, is a “living example” of how the residents of Ebensburg make “out of towners” feel welcome and want to volunteer and give back to the community, Chernisky said.

“I don’t even know if Ebensburg realizes it, but people point and say ‘Look what they’re doing in Ebensburg. Look what they do for PotatoFest. Look what they do for Dickens of a Christmas.’ They leverage the assets they have to make things better,” Chernisky said. “They don’t just do a good job, they do a great job” of doing that.

At the ceremony, the borough flag will be raised and local students are set to perform two vocal performances. The events will conclude with coffee, donated by Starbucks of Ebensburg, and cake, donated by the Giant Eagle of Ebensburg, being served inside the courthouse.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.