Celebrate Pensacola Inc. kicked off a 450-day birthday party dubbed “one of the longest parties in history to celebrate having the longest history in North America.’’ The festivities, including parades, heritage walks, historic re-enactments, art exhibits, educational programs and food-and-wine festivals, will climax on Aug. 15, 2009, the 450th anniversary of the 1559 landing by Spanish explorer Don Tristan deLuna. His colonization attempt gives Pensacola claim to being the first European settlement in the U.S.
For information: celebratepensacola.com.