STOCKTON — The rain-postponed Bicentennial Park and Village bash has been rescheduled for Saturday, and expanded activities include an alligator sausage eating contest, a birthday cake large enough to feed more than 500 people and a longer fireworks display.

Last week’s inclement weather forced a change of date for the park dedication and  celebration of the county’s 200th birthday at the North Baldwin facility on State Road 225 near Stockton.

Festivities will begin at 10 a.m. and will include free food, music, historical and fun exhibits, hayrides and a “more robust” fireworks display than originally planned at dusk, according to Nick Warren, director of the county’s special historic projects.

Visitors should come to the park entrance where they will be directed to off-site parking, then transported via BRATS buses to the park. Meal tickets will be distributed at the gate, and admission and all activities are free.

“There will be something for everybody,” Warren said. “The spirit of this park is history and natural resources.”

Hayrides begin at 10 a.m. with live narration describing progress at the park and additional features in the planning stage.

The Avenue of History will be filled with exhibits, games and crafts for children from throughout the ages. More modern activities include a Moon Walk.

Noted flora expert Fred Nation and members of the Alabama Forestry Commission will be on hand to describe plant life at the park.

Visitors also can walk the Davida Hastie Memorial Trail and take a break at two pavilions and a nature observatory.

The schedule of events includes:

• Noon: Music begins with the Montgomery Hill Bluegrass Band, Southern Gentlemen and South of 49 scheduled to play throughout the day.

Food serving begins.

• 1 p.m.: A free alligator sausage eating contest with no age restrictions.

• 4 p.m.: A bicentennial ceremony including the Baldwin County Commission and local dignitaries is scheduled. Park personnel will begin cutting a bicentennial birthday cake large enough for more than 500 people.

• Dusk: A 15-minute fireworks display.

Other points of interest include construction progress of an Indian village trade house reflecting Creek Indian buckskin trading around 1800.

Additional Creek structures are in the works at the site which was occupied by the Creeks for more than 100 years, beginning around 1700, Warren said.

By next year, an Indian village should be completed, featuring a summer house and a village square with four clan houses. Winter structures (hot houses) are in the works, as well as several Wattle-and-Daub houses, representing Indian dwellings.

The Veteran’s Memorial Pavilion is under construction, utilizing monies generated by various fund raisers, Warren said.

There will be memorials for the Civil War, Vietnam and other wars, Warren said.

“The monuments will be uniform. We don’t want anyone or any conflict to appear more important than another.”

A donated, former Bryant’s Landing country store is nearly refurbished to reflect 1910. The general store will house period goods, mail slots and a pot-bellied stove.

The “store” will be open Saturday and bicentennial items will be available for purchase.

Next to the store, a sugar cane patch will be the centerpiece of a working farm, along with other subsistence farming typical of crops in the 1840s.

The 367-acre park eventually will house a museum, offer primitive and modern camping and include a two-story museum, according to park plans.

For more information, call the Baldwin County Commission Department of Archives and History at (251) 580-1897.