GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — An "After-School Birthday Party" to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln is planned for Feb. 12, from 3:30 to 5:30 at the Berkshire South Regional Community Center.

This is a public event with no charge and is sponsored by the center, Chesterwood, Norman Rockwell Museum and state Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox. The program will include a high school essay contest sponsored by Pignatelli, art projects for children, readings and presentations about President Lincoln, and a monumental birthday cake.

 It must be at least 200 words and be submitted by Friday, Jan. 30, to Pignatelli's district office at 6 Walker St. in Lenox. Prizes will be awarded.

Elementary students are invited to bring birthday cards, artwork celebrating his presidency or other Lincoln-related classroom projects. These items will be displayed at the event and can be delivered to the front desk at the Berkshire South at 15 Crissey Road beginning Feb. 9 or brought to the event.

Chesterwood's Lincoln Bicentennial programming for May 1 to Oct. 31 will be announced at the event. Chesterwood is the country home, studio and gardens of Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), sculptor of seated Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial (1922) in Washington, D.C., and "The Minute Man" (1875) in Concord. The museum is located off Route 183 in the Glendale section of Stockbridge, near the Rockwell Museum.