David Lee is reporting for The Columbia Paper the town of New Lebanon kicked off its bicentennial celebration with an event focused on spirituality and religion at town hall March 3. In her opening remarks, town Supervisor Colleen Teal announced the goals of NL200: cohesion, pride and economic development. Monte Wasch led the group in a few Shaker songs. Then Wahida Janice Young spoke on behalf of the Abode of the Message, a Sufi community founded when a group of young people purchased the South Family buildings of the Mount Lebanon Shaker Community. Father John Close, Pastor of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, spoke of the church's history and the construction of its grotto, which was modeled on the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in southern France. Town historian Kevin Fuerst offered an overview of the valley's history and spoke about the Native American ancestry on the land. The event ended with the unveiling of the newly redesigned town seal and one of New Lebanon's new bicentennial banners. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.