CITY OF JERSEYVILLE gets ready for America’s 250th

By Editor | May 19, 2026 |

Holly Hernandez-Lamer with her winning banner design. (Submitted photo

By Steven Spencer

The Jerseyville City Council approved the banner design artwork last week as part of their preparation for America’s 250 Celebration.
As the city prepares for this summer’s 250 celebration, a committee was formed to bring some excitement to the community as the city celebrates the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
Director of Tourism and Community Development, Will Strang, who has been working with a special 250 celebration committee that has been set up, said they put out a contest for students at the high school to design a banner and received approximately 70 submissions.
The winning banner was designed by Jersey Community High School Freshman Holly Hernandez-Lamer, and features the Statue of the Liberty, the words “America’s 250th Birthday” and some red, white and blue stars and stripes.
Holly said she’s excited to see her banner on display in downtown Jerseyville all summer long.
“I was surprised that my design was selected,” she said. “It only took me like five minutes to design it in Canva.”
“Excited about putting her work out there for people to see it,” Strang told the council.
The 250th committee was established with members of the community from the library, high school and county board.
“We got a lot of involvement,” Strang said.
Erica Heitzig, from JCHS, is on the committee and helped to get some of the students involved in the banner design and celebration.
“I am so excited about this project because we have talented students at JCHS who develop incredible skills in their Career & Technical Education classes. We see it in the walls of our high school daily, but anytime we can showcase student projects in our community, it’s a win for all. Will Strang has been wonderful to work with on this project. His leadership and initiative to make this happen has felt like a true partnership,” Heitzig said.
Heitzig said creating the banners is quite the process. In addition to the initial design, students will be working on sewing the banners and installing grommets.
Samantha Strubberg will be bringing her attention to detail to help sew the banners after they’re printed.
“Each banner takes her about 10 minutes to sew. By the time these are done, she’s going to have several hours wrapped up in banner creating too,” Heitzig said. “Once she has hemmed each banner, we send them back to Ms. Kolkmeyer to have her students install grommets. It’s quite the process!”
The banners are just a piece of the celebration.
Strong said the committee will now be focusing on July 4. He said they’re planning on a 2.5-mile race and other events throughout the day with things wrapping up with a fireworks display following a Rock the Block concert.