Alabamians will have a chance to celebrate the state’s impending 200th birthday with a new commemorative license plate beginning in January.

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, Alabama Bicentennial Commission chair, unveiled a black and white design with a stylized bold red 200 logo that will be available at all state courthouses at no additional cost. The plate promotes the state’s 200th year celebration that begins in 2017 and runs through 2019. The bicentennial plates will provide motorists a third choice of standard license plate designs, joining the God Bless America and green and yellow mountain scene plates.

The Alabama Tourism Department used the red and white colors of the state flag in developing the logo that anchors the left side of the plate design, Orr said. An outline of the state map is inset into the center numeral of the “200” design.

“This tag will show that our citizens are proud to celebrate the achievements of our forefathers who established statehood from what was once the Mississippi Territory,” Orr said.

Alabama became the 22nd state on December 14, 1819. The U.S. Congress selected Huntsville as the site for the first Constitutional Convention of Alabama, and from July 5 to August 2, 1819, delegates met to prepare the new state constitution. Huntsville served as the temporary capitol of Alabama from 1819 to 1820, when the seat of state government was moved to Cahaba in Dallas County, where it remained the state capitol until 1825.

Orr credited Sen. Gerald Dial of Clay County, who chairs the legislative license plate review committee, with steering a bill approving the design through the final days of the regular 2015 legislative session.

Orr said more than 100 volunteers are serving on three major committees that are planning events. He said that state-based businesses and organizations will fund the majority of the projects during the three-year commemoration.

* Tiffeny Owens can be reached by email at towens@cullmantimes.com or by phone at 256-734-2131.