When Ed Roberson was growing up, Beaufort, N.C., “it was going backwards, losing residents to nearby Morehead City,” he recalled.

“But they reinvented themselves,” Roberson told the Tarboro Kiwanis Club on Tuesday night. “Now it’s probably the other way around.”

Roberson sees next year’s 250th Birthday Celebration as an opportunity for Tarboro to do the same.

“We are going to have a good year,” he said, “a year we can promote our town as a unique town in Eastern North Carolina.”

Roberson, a co-vice chairman of the Birthday Celebration Committee, went over many of the planned activities that begin Monday, Jan.18.

“That’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day,” he said. “MLK events will take place in the morning. This will take place in the afternoon.”

At 2 p.m., the Paperhand Puppet Intervention from Graham featuring giant puppets will lead a children’s parade through downtown Tarboro. Bluesman George Higgs of Speed will perform before a 3 p.m. ceremony.

“This is the kickoff event,” Roberson said. “We will plant a plaque in the sidewalk at the corner of Main and Church streets in front of Town Hall.”

The 24-inch by 24-inch brass and copper plaque will read:

“On September 20, 1999, as a result of Hurricane Floyd, two-thirds of Downtown Tarboro was under water. It was here at the edge of the floodwaters that President Bill Clinton and Governor Jim Hunt addressed the citizens of Tarboro and the national media. As a result of federal and state assistance, all structures damaged by Hurricane Floyd were either rebuilt or renovated.

“This marker was placed here January 18, 2010 by the Tarboro 250th Celebration Committee.”

Roberson said various organizations that have activities during 2010 are being asked to put a 250th spin on their events. We have asked them “to beef ’em up for the 250th,” he said.

There will be a birthday party during History Days on Saturday, Sept. 25 on the Town Common with a cake, lemonade in commemorative cups, music and speeches.

On the actual birthday, Nov. 30, a tree will be planted and time capsule buried on the Common.

Roberson said emphasis was being made of Tarboro being a Colonial town, the ninth oldest town in the state instead of the usual “historic Tarboro.”