MEXICO – Local plans for celebrating Oxford County’s bicentennial next year were kicked off Monday night when the Citizens Advisory Board and a local teacher began brainstorming ideas.

To celebrate the incorporation of Oxford County, a horseback rider from Boston – the capital of Massachusetts, of which Maine was a part in 1805- plans to bring a copy of the charter to most towns in the county next year. Mexico’s turn comes on May 25.

Rich Plante, a fourth-grade teacher at Meroby Elementary School, along with the Mexico Historical Society and the Citizens Advisory Board, are planning events related to the early 19th century.

Tentatively planned are foods, clothing, music and displays depicting the era. Also planned is a letter written by Plante’s fourth-grade students apologizing to Indians for actions taken against them by early Americans. A special postmark cancellation that symbolizes Oxford County showing a bear could also be available on the day the horseback rider comes through.

Most events take place at the Mexico Recreation Park.

The bear, said Plante, became a symbol for the county because of the razzing its residents got when it was about to be incorporated. Oxford County’s people, he said, were criticized for their rural ways, for being “furrow-turners” or farmers, and were called bears. Residents responded in letters to newspaper editors saying how proud they were to be “bears.”

Signs with the bear symbol are planned for installation at five entrances to the county a few months before the beginning of the countywide bicentennial celebration.

The rider is expected to leave Boston on March 4, the date of the county’s incorporation. Over a three-month period, the rider will visit many of the county’s 34 towns. In the River Valley area, visits are tentatively planned for Bethel on May 18, Andover on May 19, Rumford on May 20 and 24, Mexico on May 25, Dixfield on May 26, Peru on May 27 and May 31, and Canton on May 31.

The rider is expected to cross the so-called red bridge that connects Rumford and Mexico, then travel to the recreation park either by way of the highway or along a trail.

The committee is looking for more volunteers to help put the project together. It is also looking for donations from civic groups, businesses and individuals.

More ideas are wanted. Anyone who wants to take part is invited to attend the next meeting set for 6 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Mexico Town Office. For more information or to volunteer or offer donations, people may contact advisory board Chairwoman Louise Arsenault at 364-7003 or Plante at Meroby Elementary School at 364-3714.