Celebrate Fremont, the community-based planning organization for Fremont's 50th anniversary celebration, will host "Going Gold: The Year of Celebration Begins," Monday.

The event will be a public open house to mark the actual date Fremont was incorporated as a city: Jan. 23, 1956.

"Going Gold" will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the white tent erected this week in Central Park at 1110 Stevenson Blvd., behind the softball fields.

People of all ages who live or work in Fremont are invited, and admission is free. A short program will begin at approximately 7 p.m.

"This will be a great opportunity for residents to socialize and visit with Celebrate Fremont groups to learn more about the exciting events to come during the anniversary year," event chair Dr. Bernard Stewart said.

"The mayor will welcome people and preside over the cake-cutting ceremony at the end of program," he added. "We would like to involve people in the cake cutting who were born in Fremont in 1956 particularly anyone who was born on Jan. 23."

Fremont natives with 1956 birthdays should contact the Celebrate Fremont office as soon as possible by calling 790-9352 or e-mailing office@celebratefremont.org.

Other activities during the event will be exhibits and displays of the year's coming anniversary activities, a brief presentation by local historian Ed Pentaleri, an anniversary message from the U.S. Congress, and a prize drawing.

Local businesses and organizations have donated services and refreshments for the Going Gold event. The U.S. Postal Service will have a special commemorative postal cancellation station, and Fremont 50th Anniversary T-shirts will be available for sale for the first time.

The admission-free signature event that Celebrate Fremont plans, "Celebrate Fremont @ the Park," is slated to take place Sept. 9-10, 2006 in Fremont's Central Park.