Judy Breau Kennedy, Charlene McKenna Robinson and Ginger Naples, three of the contestants in the Miss Mexico contest at the town sesquicentennial celebration in 1968, will participate Saturday in the town’s bicentennial parade. From left: Nancy Quimby, Charlene McKenna, Miss Mexico Judy Breau, first runner-up Joan Dawson, Sharon Paulin and Ginger Naples. (Submitted photo)

Riverside Realty and Walmart in Mexico donated American flags to adorn Main Street utility poles during Mexico’s bicentennial celebration this year. From left: Town Manager Jack Gaudette of Mexico; Roger Whitehouse, owner of Riverside Realty; Matt Packard, store manager at the Mexico Walmart; and Bicentennial Committee members Sheryl Briggs, Bob Daigle, Marilla Couch and Bettie Litalien.

MEXICO — The town will celebrate its bicentennial Saturday with a parade featuring its oldest resident as grand marshal and three Miss Mexico contestants from the town’s sesquicentennial in 1968.

They are among many people and groups taking part in the procession that begins at 11 a.m. at the former Franklin Bank. The parade then proceeds to Main Street and on to Veterans Park. Afterward, a variety of activities are planned for Gary Wentzell Street, behind the Town Hall and library.

Myrtle Milledge, the town’s oldest resident and recipient of the Boston Post Cane, has been selected as grand marshal.

George Byam, Mexico Citizen of the Year, will also join the procession.

Bicentennial Committee member Marilla Couch said three pageant contestants from the town’s sesquicentennial celebration in 1968 will also join the parade. They are Miss Mexico Judy Breau Kennedy, Charlene McKenna Robinson and Ginger Naples Patterson.

Others participating are Mexico Historical Society past presidents, including Calvin Lyons; the Hope Association’s Special Olympics team; Mexico High School graduates, preferably dressed in Pinto orange and black; and antique cars and emergency vehicles.

The Mexico Class of 1968, Naples Packing Inc., Ta-Dah Hairstyling Studio and the First Baptist Church are also expected to sponsor floats for the parade.

At the Town Hall, there will be food and craft vendors and entertainers, including musicians Chad Haines and Jeff Arbor, Debbie and Norm Pelletier and Jim Gallant. Children’s activities include a clown making balloon animals, face-painting, sidewalk chalk drawing, coloring, Hula Hoops, a treasure hunt and penny hunt.

According to the town’s webpage: In Sutton, Massachusetts, in 1789, Col. Johnathan Holman and associates from the Committee for Sale of Eastern Lands bought the territory known as “Township Number 1.” The township, later called Holmanstown, comprised 30,020 acres, encompassing what is now the towns of Mexico and Dixfield.

The territory was separated into two towns in 1803, when Dixfield was incorporated.

In February 1818, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed an act to establish the town of Mexico. It was passed by the House of Representatives on Feb. 12, 1818, and by the Senate a day later.

The name was inspired by local sympathy for the country of Mexico’s fight from 1810 to 1821 for independence from Spain.