CLINTON - As the city of Clinton prepares to celebrate its 175th birthday in 2010,

Mayor Ed Wollet knows there is a big challenge ahead.

"Well, I've never grown a beard before," Wollet said, "so I'm kind of looking forward to seeing how I look in a beard and doing well in the beard-growing contest."

While the mayor has yet to start on his whiskers, the planning for the terquasquicentennial has already started. In January, Wollet announced the formation of a four-person committee to oversee the celebration.

The members are Marjorie Devore and Carol Wylder, the co-chairwomen; Tom Edmunds, treasurer; and Judy Wollet, the mayor's wife, secretary.

So far, the committee has met once and plans to meet again March 18.

"Our goal is to get about 10 people for a board of directors which we think is an ideal number," Devore said. "If you get too many people, it creates chaos and confusion. We want to stay away from that."

One thing that has been decided is that the celebration will take place over four days. The most likely dates are the third weekend in June or the first weekend in August.

"We wanted to stay away from the Maydays celebration, July Fourth, the Apple and Pork festivities, Memorial Day, Labor Day and those kinds of things," Devore said.

Preliminary plans include a parade, a talent show, a musical show, a quilt show, town tours and a play which would re-enact how Clinton was founded.

Colors for the celebration are expected to be gold, green and white, Devore said.

This isn't the first time Devore has taken part in the planning of such a celebration. She was on the committee that helped Clinton mark its 150th year.

"Then, we met for four years to plan that one, but we learned a lot from it and we are taking the experiences we learned there and using those to help us out this time around so we aren't starting from scratch," she said.

Devore says there also are plans to name an official flower for the celebration.

Fundraising efforts will begin soon. Devore says the group plans on asking community organizations, groups and businesses to hold small fundraisers and assist in the effort.

Wollet, despite his apprehension about growing a beard, says he is anxious to mark the town's anniversary.

"It will follow on the heels of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday in 2009, and so we will have two successive years in which we will be able to show off a great deal of Clinton's history," Wollet said. "That means a lot of new people coming into town and we are all very excited about it."