HOULTON – Armed with a hammer and nails Friday evening, Rosalind Morgan hustled around the Blue Moon Gallery, hanging pictures and paintings and straightening exhibits already on the walls of the studio.

All around Morgan, who serves as the gallery’s director, visitors exclaimed over images of the town’s past and present – marveling at paintings of old hotels and architecture, reading personal accounts of people’s experiences in Houlton and snapping pictures of all of the pieces.

Everyone at the opening reception of “The Story of Houlton” was busy, just like the town will be this week as residents and tourists prepare to help the municipality celebrate its 200th birthday.

Officials with the Southern Aroostook Cultural Arts Project’s Blue Moon Gallery organized the art show to coincide with the town’s bicentennial fete.

The town will hold its celebration Aug. 18-19, 200 years after Joseph Houlton and his wife, Sarah, founded the town.

A nonprofit that supports and promotes art in the region, SACAP’s studio features a new art exhibit nearly every month.

Audrey Zimmerman, SACAP’s executive director, said Friday that the exhibit was supported by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation’s Expansion Arts Fund.

The historical show features a variety of artwork, including paintings, 3-D pieces and sculptures.

In concert with those submissions, the walls of the gallery were plastered with mammoth pages of quotes during the opening reception. The words reflected each contributor’s memories of Houlton, a personal story or an opinion about the town. The quotes were collected by SACAP in 2005-06.

The artwork provides a glimpse of the Houlton of yesterday and today. Some pieces, for instance, depict former hotels or businesses, while others are illustrations or sculptures of new buildings and landmarks such as the Gateway Crossing pedestrian footbridge.

All of the pieces were submitted by Houlton artists, Zimmerman said.

Besides being educational, the show also is designed to be interactive. As they walked through the studio Friday evening, visitors wrote their own thoughts about the town and its history on large sheets of white paper that were draped over easels and cascaded onto the floor.

“Houlton, a wonderful place to live, work and play,” wrote one visitor.

“Houlton – absolutely no other place where we would raise our children – by choice,” wrote another.

The gallery will be open during the bicentennial celebration, and the exhibit will be on display through Sept. 29.