This is the first in a series detailing Madison’s sesquicentennial year and the times and changes the city has seen.

The city of Madison has more than a new year to celebrate in 2006. Founded in 1856, Madison will celebrate its 150th birthday, or sesquicentennial, next year.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz created a Sesquicentennial Commission to plan events and projects and inform local organizations and the community of the celebration, according to mayor spokesperson George Twigg. The mayor appointed the 20-member commission, which has been meeting on a monthly basis since September.

Twigg said the commission will work with the community to decide how to celebrate Madison’s sesquicentennial and to compile a schedule of events.

According to Madison Arts Administrator Rebecca Kasemeyer, who serves on the commission, all meetings are open to the public. The group encourages the people of Madison to be heavily involved in the planning of the celebration.

“On Jan. 27, we will launch the committee and try to get the word out,” Kasemeyer said. “We are hosting the next five monthly meetings throughout different places in the city to get input from citizens.”

Dick Wagner, chair of the Sesquicentennial Commission, said the committee is still brainstorming ideas for the celebration. They have begun collaborating with existing state agencies, such as the Madison Senior Center and the Olbrich Botanical Gardens and Topical Conservatory, to incorporate events at their facilities.

“We are thinking that things can go on throughout the whole year,” Wagner said. “There is a period between March and April … we may focus on because that’s the actual dates when [Madison] was incorporated and began functioning as a city.”

According to Wagner, many local organizations and Madisonians are planning ways to celebrate the sesquicentennial.

Stuart Levitan, host of Sunday Morning with Stu Levitan on 92.1 FM, said he is writing a 15-month series called “Madison 150 — Decade by Decade” for Madison Magazine and including adaptations of the material in his weekly radio show. He is also writing a book for the University of Wisconsin Press called “The Illustrated Sesquicentennial History of Madison,” which will be available at the end of 2005.

President of Historic Madison, Inc., Mark Gajewski, said the corporation, affiliated with the Wisconsin Historical Society of Wisconsin, has commissioned a play about Madison’s history set to debut in early 2006. They also plan to create a historic calendar with pictures and descriptions of different events that occurred in Madison’s past, he added.

According to Gajewski, Historic Madison, Inc. will continue its annual parade of homes and will organize tours to visit homes that have been in Madison since the early days of the city.

Gajewski, who also serves on the Sesquicentennial Commission, said the committee will release a calendar of events and a website to encourage community involvement.

“The Sesquicentennial Committee is really kind of a focal point,” Gajewski said. “What we want to do is encourage organizations like Historic Madison, Inc. to do things on their own — whatever appeals to them.”

A few public events will be planned, but the idea is to have a grassroots celebration allowing organizations to plan any events they would like, Gajewski added.

“It’s really up to the people of Madison to make the sesquicentennial what they will,” Gajewski said.