The Golden Gate Bridge, one of the world's most recognizable landmarks will celebrate its 75th anniversary May 27, with a celebration stretching for four miles (over six kilometers).
The Golden Gate Festival, which takes place on Sunday, May 27, is the centerpiece of the year-long celebrations surrounding the San Francisco landmark, which was completed in 1937.
It will include an auto show, several concerts and dance shows, outdoor art installations, talks, a display of bridge artefacts, a film night with movies featuring the bridge, and a firework display over the bridge in the evening as a grand finale.
The Golden Gate Bridge ranks among America's best-known icons -- it's featured in countless movies and was described by travel guidebook Frommers as "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world."
Earlier this month, a new visitor experience was opened to the public to cater for the 10 million tourists who want to see and experience the bridge every year.
The new experience includes a new 'Bridge Pavilion' educational experience, a renovated Art Deco Round House which offers high-tech self-guided tours (including, for the first time, at night), a new GoGGBridge app and a new Golden Gate Overlook sightseeing spot in the Presidio offering panoramic views for guests.
Other events will be presented for the rest of the year, authorities say, many under the auspices of the '75 Tributes to the Bridge' program from communities in the Bay Area.
However, one obvious attraction - the ability to cross the bridge on foot unimpeded by traffic - is notably absent from the list of festivities planned to celebrate the 75th anniversary.
The rationale for the omission lies in the celebrations for the 50th anniversary, when between 750,000 and one million people crowded onto the bridge for the event, causing the structure to flex under the weight -- and plans for any further mass public access to be hastily scrapped.