It’s a year of two big intertwined anniversaries for Colorado and the United States of America.

The country will celebrate its semiquincentennial July 4, 2026, marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Less than a month later, Colorado, which entered the union as the Centennial State on Aug. 1, 1876, will commemorate 150 years of statehood with its sesquicentennial celebration.

Colorado Newsline is commemorating the sesquicentennial with Colorado at 150, a yearlong project reporting on the people and events that shaped our state’s history.

Click here to read the first entry in “Timeline 1876,” a special series chronicling the road to statehood and the daily lives of the territory’s residents 150 years ago.

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Colorado has been planning for the year’s festivities since 2022, when a bill passed by the Legislature established the America 250-Colorado 150commission, a 15-member volunteer board assisted by staff at History Colorado, the state’s public historical society.

The commission has approved 12 “signature initiatives” for Colorado’s sesquicentennial year, including a documentary film series, a new historic marker program, a “digital passport” program to encourage travel and tourism around the state, and “A Portrait of Colorado at 150,” which will curate oral histories from at least 150 living Coloradans.

fAnother signature initiative, Colorado Heritage for All, aims to add 150 additional sites to the state Register of Historic Places by the end of 2026, with an emphasis on the historical experiences of communities of color, women and LGBTQ+ Coloradans, which previously only made up 4 percent of the state’s preserved buildings and sites. History Colorado says it’s already hit the halfway point in that goal, having added 75 new sites to the register as of October 2025.

At least one major sesquicentennial effort didn’t come to fruition: the Colorado 150 Pedestrian Walkway, a proposal initially backed by Governor Jared Polis to build a pedestrian bridge across Lincoln Ave. near the state Capitol. Polis abandoned the idea after mounting public criticism and the completion of a survey in which respondents overwhelmingly opposed the $29 million project.

Events planned throughout the year

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For 149 years, Coloradans have celebrated Colorado Day on Aug. 1, commemorating President Ulysses S. Grant’s statehood proclamation admitting Colorado to the union on that date in 1876.

Events currently planned for Aug. 1 include the Mile High 150 Expo at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield, and the Colorado 150 Celebration at Highlands Ranch Town Center.

A museum exhibit, “38th Star: Colorado Becomes the Centennial State,” is currently on display at the History Colorado Center in Denver and scheduled to run through Sept. 6, 2026.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture has partnered with artist Thomas Evans, also known as Detour, to create a mural at the National Western Stock Show highlighting the state’s agricultural roots. The mural’s official unveiling will take place on Jan. 10.

The U.S. Postal Service will recognize 150 years of Colorado statehood with a special forever stamp featuring a landscape by renowned Colorado nature photographer John Fielder. Officials will dedicate the stamp in a Jan. 24 event at the History Colorado Center.

Local and regional institutions across Colorado plan to hold events of their own, including the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum’s “We The People: Colorado at 150” lecture series. A local organizing committee for southwest Colorado is also planning its own program of events.

A list of events across the state can be found on the America 250-Colorado 150 website.