Dunedin - get ready to party.
At least, get ready for the Dunedin City Council to investigate the potential for a party and report back on options.
Councillors at yesterday's full council meeting asked for work to be carried out on plans for the 150th anniversary of Dunedin's founding as a city, which would be marked on August 1, 2015.
Council chief executive Paul Orders would prepare a report on "suitable ways" to celebrate the occasion, which marks 150 years of civic government in Dunedin and a continuous line of mayors and councillors.
Celebrating the event would also continue the tradition of marking significant historical occasions in the life of the city and province, a staff report to yesterday's meeting said.
Dunedin's growing population in the 1860s resulted in it becoming New Zealand's first city in 1865, and two significant 150th anniversary milestones have been marked in the years since.
In 1994, the 150th anniversary of the purchase of the Otago block was marked by events and the commissioning of a book by historian Bill Dacker, Te Mamae Ma Te Aroha (The Pain and the Love).
Four years later, in 1998, a year of activities - and the publication of three more books - marked the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first European settlers in Dunedin, the report said.
Cr Jinty MacTavish was among those to support the initiative yesterday, but asked for an investigation of the potential to amalgamate any city celebration with those of other organisations making their own 150th anniversaries.
Cr Fliss Butcher said any city festivities, such as the commissioning of a documentary, should include the voices of the city's young people, "rather than just the old farts".
So how do you want the council to mark the 150th anniversary of Dunedin's founding as a city?
Send your ideas to: detours@odt.co.nz
