By Randy McNutt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Officially, the big party won't start until Statehood Day on March 1. But some couldn't wait to start celebrating Ohio history.

Butler County kicked off its own bicentennial with a ceremony Monday at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts. Community leaders showed off the Bicentennial edition of the Butler County Travel Planner and Visitors Guide.

"We want to get an early start," said Rhonda Freeze, the county's Bicentennial director.

The Ohio Bicentennial will be much more than a state celebration. Some other local communities, including Warren County and its Deerfield Township, will celebrate their bicentennials next year and combine their birthdays with the state's.

A state Bicentennial event will start Feb. 23 at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont. It will host the exhibit "State of Eight: A Bicentennial Tribute to Ohio's Presidential Legacy," which celebrates the years (1840-1920) when eight Ohioans were elected to the Oval Office.

The exhibit examines the presidents and other candidates who wanted to be president.

"Artifacts and documents also uncover heartbreaking and humorous aspects of Ohio's prominence in national politics - from enduring the death of four native sons in office to playing host to the national convention of the Cheese Party," said Lee Yoakum, a spokesman for the Bicentennial Commission in Columbus.

From March to June, the exhibit will move to the McKinley Museum and National Memorial in Canton, and from July to October will be at the William Howard Taft National Historic Site in Cincinnati.

Feb. 28, the Bicentennial Bell casting program resumes when the world's only foundry on wheels crosses the state for seven months.

An individual Bicentennial Bell, 2 feet high and 250 pounds, will be made for each of Ohio's 88 counties by the end of the year.

Warren County's bell festival will be May 2-3 in Lebanon. Butler County's will be July 4-5 in Liberty Township.

Hamilton County's will be Oct. 15-16 at the Tall Stacks celebration on the Ohio River.

The public will be invited to the ring the bells after they are cast and polished.

Warren County's bell casting is timed to celebrate the county's own bicentennial with a festival on Justice Drive Campus, near the county buildings.

"Schoolchildren, residents and public officials will be asked to participate in the casting process and the first ringing of the bell," said Margaret Drexel, spokeswoman for the Warren County Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Miniature bells will be available and sold while supplies last."

Other events are planned throughout the year.

Warren and Butler counties were among the first 12 counties designated March 24, 1803, when Ohio officially became a state.

Butler County will continue to celebrate its bicentennial on Jan. 23-24 with the Hamilton Ice Fest. Artists will carve an ice sculpture of the Bicentennial Bell and display it on Bicentennial Square.

On Feb. 28, the Butler County Bicentennial Commission will stage a theatrical production, Billy Yank's Diary: Stories of Butler County People, at the Parrish Auditorium at Miami University Hamilton.

E-mail rmcnutt@enquirer.com