New York ? Central Park, an oasis in the city of steel, is celebrating its 150th birthday, and everyone is invited to the party.

New York City is rolling out the green carpet for residents and visitors alike, and will spend the remainder of the year celebrating the anniversary with light shows, exhibits, performances and concerts.

When the park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as a grand social experiment, for rich and poor alike, there were doubts as to whether either group would feel comfortable in the new park. They did mix with ease, and it is now truly a melting pot for locals and tourists alike.

A $300 million restoration has returned the 843-acre park — which includes 136 acres of woodlands, 250 acres of lawns and 150 acres of lakes and ponds — to the magnificence of its heyday.

For a first visit, a horse and buggy might take you into the park and once there, depending on the season, a tourist will find every activity from bike riding, to row boats, fishing, ice skating, live music and dance, and enough nature to make you forget that you are doing it all in the middle of a bustling metropolis.

If it’s music you want, head for the Great Lawn, Central Park’s outdoor concert arena. Its luxurious carpet of emerald grass is the spot on summer evenings for an alfresco dinner and free performances by the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera. But any walk throughout the park on a nice day will reveal a myriad of itinerant musicians and performers.

For a totally different environment, the Ramble offers a taste of the Adirondacks without ever leaving the city. The 38-acre Ramble has been rated one of the top 15 bird-watching sites in the nation for the 215 species that can be spotted there. Olmsted called it a “wild garden,” for its rocky outcrops, secluded glades and tumbling stream. Meandering paths take strollers through a forest rich in plantings from the Adirondack and Appalachian Mountain ranges.

The skyline of upper Fifth Avenue is visible in this view looking northeast over Central Park's Turtle Pond. With a light show, exhibits, concerts and even an auction of designer park benches, the city will spend the rest of the year celebrating the creation of Central Park 150 years ago.

Nearby, there’s Turtle Pond, an oasis for aquatic birds and dragonflies with a tiny island where turtles have a sandy and protected spot to lay their eggs.

A more serene setting can be found at Shakespeare Garden, where only flowers mentioned in the great scribe’s works are planted. In the northernmost part of the park, the six-acre Conservatory Garden offers examples of English, Italian and French gardens, and is a favorite spot for both popping the question and snapping the wedding photos that follow the I do’s.

Those seeking a perfect vantage point for viewing a glorious New York City skyline should head for Sheep Meadow’s 15-acre grassy expanse — a great spot for sunbathing, picnicking and kite flying.

The anniversary celebration, beginning now and continuing through December, will run the gamut from art shows and stage shows to concerts and exhibits. A Sept. 15 light show in the park that should be visible in all five boroughs comes on the same night as a fund-raising event in which 150 apartments, hotels and clubs with views of the park will serve $1,000-a-ticket dinners by New York’s top chefs.

Other offerings in summer include a June 11 concert by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, and a July 19 parkwide celebration that will culminate with a free performance by singer Andrea Bocelli.

There will also be a Central Park Film Festival beginning Sept. 3.