This upcoming year of celebration will be like none other. Both the public and the private sectors are doing their parts to participate in this landmark occasion and celebrate our history to the fullest. Collectively they are building quite a spectacular calendar.

I want to echo the call of Culture Minster Dale Butler who is seeking involvement from everyone in our community as Bermuda celebrates 400. Like him, I believe countrywide involvement is critical because history is about all of us; it belongs to all of us.

I know at the Department of Tourism we see this 400th anniversary as a great opportunity to showcase some of Bermuda's annual marquee events to potential visitors. Events like the Bermuda Music Festival, Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge and Cup Match will be even more exciting in 2009 than they are traditionally. I know our country's great civic organisations have grand events of their own every year and I hope to see them work with the Bermuda 2009 Planning Committee to make the master calendar even more inclusive than it already is.

We'll also have to take some time during this milestone anniversary to have a look back, to acknowledge our past in order to appreciate our advancements. In the early part of the New Year we will officially unveil the Sally Bassett Monument at the Cabinet Office. The larger-than-life Carlos Dowling statue is a tribute to a slave who was unjustly killed, largely for her defiant nature. And 280 years later we honour her life's story. The time for such a tribute was long past due.

The Sally Bassett Monument will be the newest addition to the African Diaspora Heritage Trail. The ADHT is part of our heritage-related tourism offerings. Perhaps 2009 is a golden opportunity for every Bermudian to experience (or re-experience) "The Trail" to get out and see the church that slaves built, the gravesite at St. Peter's or the museum at Commissioner's House. As we celebrate 400 years of continuous habitation in Bermuda, let's also reconnect to the fascinating stories of our forefathers. Let's make 2009 a year we'll remember for the next 100.