EAU CLAIRE'S SKYLINE: NOW WITH CUPCAKES. Add another 149 candles, and you'll get the idea.

Happy birthday, Eau Claire! So where’s the party? Eau Claire’s yearlong sesquicentennial celebration kicks off from noon to 2pm on Saturday, March 19, with a birthday party at the Chippewa Valley Museum in Carson Park. Residents will come together to celebrate a century and a half of hard work, creativity, and transformation that have made Eau Claire what it is today. (To answer your first question: Yes, there will be cake!) Details can be found right here.

The festivities will start with Dave Solberg, the interim city manager, reading an Eau Claire Day proclamation at noon. (You can read the proclamation below.) The Eau Claire City Council passed the resolution on March 11. Our 19th-century forebears loved fancy proclamations, too. And speaking of our forebears, some of them will be represented in a slideshow of historic images courtesy of the Chippewa Valley Museum.

Everyone in town is invited, including families from the community, as well as members of the City Council, County Board, the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce, and members of the media. 

As the year progresses, there will undoubtedly be more official and unofficial celebrations. For example, the Chippewa Valley Museum will soon open a new exhibit devoted to the sesquicentennial, titled “Then and Now: 150 Years of Change in Eau Claire,” which will run from April to December.

As you’ve probably gathered by now, the fuss will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the date – March 19, 1872 – when three little logging villages on the banks of the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers put on their big municipal pants and formed the City of Eau Claire.

In addition to special issue of our print magazine, we here at Volume One have also created the official branding for the sesquicentennial, making logos and images that are freely available for the community to use to promote 150th birthday commemoration. You can find these and other resources on a website created by the sesquicentennial’s promotional partners, including the City of Eau Claire, Downtown Eau Claire Inc., the Chippewa Valley Museum, Volume One, Visit Eau Claire, and Leadership Eau Claire.

The website includes information on upcoming events, ideas to celebrate the sesquicentennial for businesses, sponsorship opportunities, and marketing materials that can be used to promote the yearlong party. (See www.visiteauclaire.com/150th/ to learn more.)

Over the coming months, join your fellow Eau Clarians as we reflect upon and celebrate the world-class place that “Sawdust City” has become over the course of 150 years.