Heather Wright/The Independent

It’s been 25 years since the communities of Plympton Township and the Village of Wyoming amalgamated and Mayor Gary Atkinson thinks that’s something to celebrate.

The town is planning a family event on June 13 to mark the occasion.

The town was created in 2001, amalgamating the Township of Plympton with the formerly independent Village of Wyoming in a time when Premier Mike Harris was pushing mergers of smaller municipalities. Several other communities in Lambton also joined forces around the same time.

The idea wasn’t always popular, according to Atkinson, even today.

“There’s still some older people that certainly question it, and on occasions we still hear all the township, the Township of Plympton-Wyoming,” he says. The community is now a town.

“Overall, I think the new generation are embracing it. They’re encouraged by it, especially the people that move into the area; they don’t know the back history, but they seem to be excited about the celebration, so I think that’s a good point.”

Plympton-Wyoming received a Creative County grant to help fund the celebrations. Banners are already in the commercial areas in Wyoming and Camlachie with the 25th anniversary logo.

And the Special Events Committee has been busy planning a party for the community.

“There’s going to be train rides for the little kids around the grounds. There’s a dog agility show. There’s some vendors that are going to be set up. There’s going to be the food booths. The Wyoming Lions will have theirs open, and the fair board ladies will be also there, involved selling beef on the bun,” says Atkison.

There are also lots of volunteers pitching in to help during the day including members of the local legion, the Lions and the Huron Shores Optimists.

The celebration will roll on into the evening hours with entertainment from the local band, Jamlachie, and The Brothers’ Wilde. And as the sun sets, fireworks will light up the sky under the Plympton-Wyoming Fairgrounds.

Atkinson says it is a first time in many years there has been a local fireworks display.

“It’s kind of exciting, a lot of hoops to go through with them, but you have to do that and we’ve had some sponsorship for that, thanks to Toronto Dominion and Enbridge Gas,” he says.

The fun gets underway at 4:30 pm with the opening ceremonies at 4:45 pm.

There will be limited parking on the site however a bus will be shuttling community members from the Wyoming Legion to the fairgrounds from 4:30 pm to 11 pm.