If I could put time in a capsule

Memorabilia from Bremerton’s Centennial Celebration on display at City Hall might not be seen again until the year 2101.

The items are in a time capsule built by two centennial celebration committee members Dee Kinder, “the basket lady,” and Jan Greenwood, programming volunteer and training coordinator at Bremerton Kitsap Access Television. According to Kinder, the time capsule encases items meant to represent Bremerton in the year 2001.

“I think the committee has done a nice job getting a cross section of items for 2001,” said Mayor Lynn Horton. “They tried to collect things they thought would be interesting in a hundred years.”

There are about 70 items in the time capsule, including the “Collection of Memories” tribute to Bremerton’s centennial book, cards with descriptions of different areas of Bremerton, a Bremerton High School yearbook for 2001, newsletters from different organizations, the time line shown at the centennial photo display, the centennial proclamation, the centennial commemorative publication of The Sun newspaper with autographs of the people in attendance at the celebration, a copy of the USS Missouri surrender document, Olympic College’s “The View,” a videotape of the Armed Forces Day Parade, and copies of the Bremerton Patriot.

There are also items meant to represent the wider world, including a beanie baby, collector’s trading cards, an empty Coca-Cola bottle, a list of current slang terms from students from Bremerton High School, advertisements, a small U.S. flag, and a copy of USA Today newspaper.

“We picked the items so that when it’s opened a hundred years from now, they can look at a snapshot,” Greenwood said.

Kinder said the capsule, a full list of items in the capsule, and duplicates of some those items, would be on display in City Hall for an indefinite amount of time. City Hall hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

After City Hall, Kinder said the capsule would probably be in the window display at the Bremerton Area Chamber of Commerce. Kinder said she doesn’t know what she will do with the capsule after it’s displayed at the chamber, but she is open to suggestions.

One suggestion, that even the mayor said she liked, was to bury the capsule near the proposed city/county government center at Sixth Street and Pacific Avenue.

Suggestions can be e-mailed to Kinder at .

Kinder said Oct. 21, 2101 is the date she hopes the time capsule will be opened again after it is sealed.

“My hope is that everything lasts a hundred years,” said Greenwood.

Kinder and Greenwood said they have been working on the capsule since September when Kinder came up with the idea at a centennial celebration committee meeting.

Federal workers at Subase Bangor assisted in the construction of the capsule. It is made out of one-eighth inch sheet metal and is powder-coat painted.

“I just thought we needed one,” said Kinder. “It was a lot of fun (putting it together).”

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