The sparkle of fireworks on New Years Eve will herald the end of the toughest year in modern memory and the first of many celebrations marking the city’s 150th anniversary.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers will be with the members of the AdAmAn club in the freezing winds Thursday night on Pikes Peak to potentially help launch the fireworks and kick off a new year that will hopefully bring a return to normalcy, he said.
“We are eager to get the pandemic behind us so we can have a full celebration of the city’s 150th birthday,” he said.
The city is expecting events and activities throughout the year to mark the anniversary. For example, plans are in the works for a downtown festival, the Pioneers Museum has a new exhibition planned to open in January, downtown parks will get spruced up and a beards and bonnets contest is scheduled for the summer, Suthers said.
Suthers said he expected to start working on his beard April 1 to be ready for competition.
“I am boldly predicting I will come in dead last, but it is something I am dedicated to doing,” he said.
Residents are also encouraged to mark the city’s founding in a lasting way by planting trees. The city is aiming to have 18,071 new trees planted in honor of the date the city was founded, 1871, and the town’s transformation from a barren plain, Suthers said. The city’s tree tracker shows 1,948 trees have been planted to date. Residents are encouraged to add any trees they may plant to the tracker at Coloradosprings.gov/tree150.
The city also expects to invest $3.5 million in historic downtown parks — Acacia, Antlers, Alamo and Monument Valley. City founder Gen. William Palmer’s jewel, Monument Valley, will have its ponds restored, Suthers said.
If the city cannot hold in-person celebrations, such as the downtown festival, because of the coronavirus pandemic and an ongoing need for social distancing, the city will hold creative alternatives, he said; discussions about those are underway.
The city’s socially distanced Fourth of July on Your Porch celebration, which featured fireworks across town, is an example of how big events can be done safely, he said.
As for the upcoming News Years fireworks displays, residents reveling in the end of 2020, can catch them at 9 p.m. and again at midnight, said Dan Stuart, with the AdAmAn club.
“We are celebrating hope for a new year that just has to be better than the old one,” he said.
This content was originally published here.