The New Dawn of Tradition, Wisconsin's Inter-Tribal Pow-Wow (left), Lumberjack world championships (right)

(CNN) -- Wisconsin -- America's Dairyland -- conjures images of rolling green hillsides and Holstein cattle munching lazily beneath twin silos beside red barns. There's much more, of course, to the state nicknamed "The Badger State" because 19th-century miners lived in caves dug out of hillsides.

This year, Wisconsin hits the boards for a big birthday bash: its Sesquicentennial, 150 years as one of the United States.

The land bordered by two Great Lakes (Superior and Michigan) was home to the Winnebago, Dakota and Menominee Indians when Frenchman Jean Nicolet -- seeking a water route to China -- landed in Green Bay in 1634, the first white explorer to set foot in the area.

French missionaries followed some 25 years later, and the region came under English control in 1763, only to become part of the United States 20 years later. First part of the Indiana Territory, and then part of the Illinois and Michigan Territories, Wisconsin became its own land in 1836 -- and a full-fledged state in 1848, the 30th star to grace the American flag.

The state is celebrating its 150 years of statehood in grand style with a year-long celebration in 1998. Many of the events span weekends over the summer, and make wholesome family diversions -- offering everything from folklife festivals and musicals to military re-enactments and corn field mazes.

C heese-making (left), Great wisconsin river log jam (right)

A pair of wagon trains rolls across the state between May 29 and June 14. And if horse-drawn wagons aren't your cup of tea, Gov. Tommy Thompson leads a Harley ride beginning June 19 in Madison and ending June 23 in Washington, D.C., where the Smithsonian Folklife Festival salutes Wisconsin (and the Baltic nations, the Philippines and the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo River Basin) on the Mall June 24-28 and July 1-5.

Folks travel the other way from July 19 to August 23, on bicycles, as the Pioneer Ride sets off from the nation's capital and touches all five Great Lakes on a 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) ride to Madison.

On July 25, the Wisconsin Corn Maze opens on the 150-year-old, fifth-generation Hughes' family farm in La Prairie. The maze, cut into a 40-acre (16-hectare) corn field, is open through October 31. And a re-creation of a 19th-century parade complete with horses, clowns, animals and 75 restored circus wagons traipses parade grounds on the shores of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee July 27-August 2.

The Wisconsin Folklife Festival takes over Capitol Square in Madison August 20-23 with a working Native American wild rice camp, a reproduction of a Wisconsin tavern, cheese-making, brewing, ice fishing, cranberry growing and logging. At the same time, 13 Native American communities gather in the state's capital for The New Dawn of Tradition, Wisconsin's Inter-Tribal Pow-Wow.

And if that's not enough, the Wisconsin Lake Schooner Education Association is busy building Wisconsin's Flagship, a 137-foot (42-meter) schooner with three 95-foot (29-meter) white pine masts. A replica of the kind of ship that carried people and cargo on the Great Lakes in the mid-1800s, it's the state's first Tall Ship in over a century, and is under construction on a Milwaukee pier.

The celebration continues throughout the year -- dairy products included.

For more information, call 1-800-432-TRIP, or visit the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Web site at http://www.150years.state.wi.us or the Wisconsin Department of Tourism Web site at http://tourism.state.wi.us.