Cajah's Mountain celebrating 25th anniversary

The Town of Cajah's Mountain will celebrate its 25th anniversary Saturday. The event will be an open house, but because the town is so close-knit it may feel much more like a family birthday celebration.

“We're having sort of a birthday party for the town,” said Connie South, Cajah's Mountain town manager.

Invitations have been sent to all the town's residents, as well as dignitaries from Caldwell County and the surrounding towns. The celebration, which is open to the public, will be from 2 to 4 p.m. at town hall.

To commemorate the event, a guestbook will be available for attendees to sign, and South hopes to get a picture of all who attend that can be used at the next big anniversary celebration.

“What I'm planning on doing is having a guestbook for everyone to sign, and then hopefully 25 years from now we'll be able to look back and see how things have changed,” South said.

South also hopes to be able to display newspaper articles written about the town since her arrival 20 years ago.

“I have collected almost every newspaper article that has been published about the town,” South said. “My goal is to get all of that into a scrapbook.”

Refreshments will be served at the celebration, and there will be some surprises as well.

The town has gone through a lot of changes since it was incorporated in 1983. For one, it's population has grown by more than 1,000 people. A census taken in 1984 listed the population at 1,819. The most recent population count is at 2,821, South said.

In the past 25 years, the town has had 17 different elected officials, and scores of volunteers who have helped when the town was in need of planning board members and assistance with other projects.

Councilwoman Lois Andes has served the town as an elected representative since its incorporation.

“I've enjoyed serving our people,” Andes said. “I just enjoy working with the town and hope and pray that we never have to tax. I'm sure we will, but I hope I'm not on (the council) when it does happen.”

All of the living former council members have been invited to the open house, and South hopes that the reunion will be a time for sharing memories and catching up with former officials who have moved away.

Andes said she is looking forward to reuniting with town representatives she hasn't seen in a while and hopes she'll also be able to visit with citizens of Cajah's Mountain that have left over the years.

As the town takes a few hours to look back on its history Saturday, people also will be looking forward to the next 25 years.

“I'll be honest. I hope it's the same in a lot of aspects,” South said. “It's just a tight-knit community.”

Andes also is pointing to the future of Cajah's Mountain and watching it become a better community than it is today.

“I hope the town stays sort of low-keyed, and I hope we can get something in the old Bernhardt building,” she said. “I'd love to see something go in there, and I hope we get our road fixed to go into the Dollar General.”

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