Singapore is turning 50 in 2015, and the ambitious little city-state is pulling out all the stops to celebrate. Festivities began on New Year’s Eve with a huge fireworks display set to music over Marina Bay. That will be followed by the riotous Chingay Parade in February, featuring thousands of colorfully dressed performers. In the fall, a five-mile historic public art trail called the Jubilee Walk will be inaugurated, and the National Gallery Singapore opens in the grand former Supreme Court and City Hall buildings, where it will house one of the largest collections of Southeast Asian art in the world. The showcase event will be the National Day parade at the site where Singapore’s independence was declared in 1965.