Virginia plans for Jamestown anniversary

France has the Louvre. Italy has the Parthenon, and Egypt has the pyramids.

2007 Signature Events

America’s Anniversary Weekend
May 11 – 13, 2007

Godspeed Sail
May 20 – August 2006

American Indian Cultural Festival
September 2006

225th Anniversary: Victory at Yorktown
October 19 – 22, 2006

National Teach In
Date: TBA

African-American Imprint On America
February 2007, July/August 2007

Journey Up The James
April 2007

Smithsonian Folk Life Festival
End of June – July 4, 2007

Foundations and Futures of Democracy
September 23 – 27, 2007

But Virginia has Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, which will celebrate its 400th anniversary in 2007. Commemorative events for this occasion start in May 2006.

“The anniversary of Jamestown is not just an anniversary for Europeans to celebrate,” said Paula Neeley of the Historic Jamestown Foundation at a forum sponsored by the School of Mass Communications during Mass Comm Week.

The forum, titled “Attracting An International Audience to Virginia,” focused on two guest speakers, Neeley and Martha Steger, the public relations director for the Virginia Tourism Corp. and the upcoming Jamestown anniversary.

“It’s not necessarily a celebration or a party for everybody. The Virginia Indians in particular do not look at it as a celebration,” Neeley said, explaining that the event-planners avoid the word celebration to describe this anniversary.

Ronni Griffin, a junior history major, studies the history of the South.

“It’s important to recognize the clash of cultures and to not forget the impact it had on the Native Americans,” she said. Griffin said she hasn’t visited Jamestown since the third grade but may attend the anniversary event.

Event-planners enlisted the state’s tourism agency to attract an international audience to Virginia and to help commemorate the festivities.

“Even though it’s only 5 (percent) to 7 percent of our market now, the potential is there,” said Steger, who explained that these visitors tend to spend more money and stay longer than travelers from within the United States.

The corporation and the foundation combined their efforts to create an awareness of Jamestown throughout the world.

Neeley cited a 2004 national survey that showed about 25 percent of its respondents identified Jamestown as the first permanent English settlement in America, while fewer than 1 percent were aware of events celebrating the 400th anniversary.

“Plymouth was based on religious freedom, whereas Jamestown was based on free enterprise … so it isn’t necessarily the kind of beginning that some historians wanted for our country,” Neeley said, explaining why Plymouth is more widely known than Jamestown.

To educate students across America about Jamestown, the event-planners will broadcast the live National Teach-In in classrooms.

Other highlights discussed at the forum:

* the sailing of a replica of the Godspeed, one of the first ships to arrive in 1607

* cultural festivals for American Indians and African-Americans

* the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival

* the Dec. 25 release of the Terrence Malick film “The New World”

The film’s stars are under contract with New Line Cinema, so Steger said any decision for the stars to participate will be made by that company.

Since Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II attended the 350th Jamestown anniversary in 1957, Steger said the various committees in Virginia hope that Princes William and Harry might come to attract a younger generation.