The Blue Ridge Parkway won't officially celebrate its 75th anniversary until 2010, but the commemoration is getting off to an early start Thursday at the Vinton War Memorial.

If you want to join in, however, today's the deadline for signing up for the limited-seating symposium by calling (800) 228-7275.

Three parkway experts will make presentations on the historical underpinnings of the nation's most-visited national park destination and their impact on its future. The addresses will be followed by a moderated discussion of the subject.

The event is the first in a series of activities being coordinated by Blue Ridge Parkway 75 Inc., a new nonprofit organization.

Its published goals are to raise awareness of the anniversary, involve local communities in its celebration and to "advance a new generation of stewards, advocates and elected officials who embrace Parkway values, speak out regarding future challenges, and actively work for a sustainable and healthy Blue Ridge Parkway."

Roanoke was chosen for the inauguration of the celebration because "the idea for the parkway started in Virginia when Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Interior Secretary Harold Ickes and Sen. Harry Byrd met at a Shenandoah National Park CCC [Civilian Conservation Corps] camp" in 1933, said Penny Lloyd, a Roanoke County employee who serves as the Virginia staff person in the Parkway 75 organization.

There, the men concluded "it would be a nice idea to build a road linking Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park."

Two years later, in September 1935, construction began in North Carolina. Completion was harder and much longer than anticipated, however, with the official dedication of the final leg of the 469-mile parkway not coming until 1987.

In between those dates, the headquarters for the parkway was moved from its initial home in Roanoke to Asheville, N.C.

Thursday's symposium has the lengthy title "A Living Past on a Borrowed Landscape: the Blue Ridge Parkway at 75."

Speakers include Anne Mitchell Whisnant, a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill history professor and author of the first comprehensive history of the parkway; Ian Firth, a retired professor of landscape design at the University of Georgia; and Gary Johnson, a landscape architect and chief of resources planning for the parkway. The discussion afterward will be moderated by Neva Jean Specht, a history professor and Blue Ridge Parkway liaison for Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.

Each of the speakers will address the sometimes competing interests -- such as conservation versus development, landowners' rights and the concept of "borrowed" scenic views -- that shaped the building of the parkway and continue to present challenges to its preservation.

Thursday's event will be followed by a wine reception.

The next morning, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine; U.S. Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, and Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon; North Carolina Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources Bill Ross; and Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Phil Francis will announce additional plans for the 75th anniversary celebration during a news conference on the parkway near Roanoke.

Also scheduled to be on hand -- improbable as it may sound -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof.