Wareham residents will soon be able to stay on the dry and flat security of land and still get up close and personal with a 12-foot sail fluttering in the wind.

That's because the "Sail Trail," a fundraiser that will feature 12-by-4-foot sails in front of businesses and houses around town, is coming to Wareham.

The Sail Trail is a fundraiser for the celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the building of the Cape Cod Canal, called the Cape Cod Canal Centennial Celebration. The celebration will be held in the summer of 2014, but fundraising has already begun.

The Centennial Celebration promises to be an event that attracts people from all over the world, said members of the Centennial Celebration Steering Committee, Mary Lou Payton and Jackie Lindsey.

"This is an international event. This is huge," said Lindsey, co-chair of the fundraising committee. "We're talking about inviting the president."

The Centennial Celebration will be held over nine days in the towns of Wareham, Bourne, and Sandwich.

Current events planned for the celebration include a visit from the tall ships of South America, lighted tugboats, a laser show, parades, a gala, a visit from the Charles Morgan whaling ship, historical exhibits from the time period when the canal was built, and perhaps even a visit from the president.

"The idea is to promote the area. ... We're really excited about the whole thing, this is probably going to be the event in terms of our lifetime, in terms of things we've been involved in," said Payton, who is a former president of the Onset Bay Association and current member of the Board of Directors for the OBA.

The Sail Trail is modeled after the "Whale Trail," a successful local tourism and fundraising campaign held in 2006 that challenged tourists to find whale sculptures set up at different locations throughout the Cape.

Similarly, the steering committee will provide a map of the sail locations and is hoping that visitors will want take up the challenge of finding the sails.

"I think it will be a fabulous trail for people to follow. It will be a fun day out," said Lindsey.

The sails were purchased by the committee from Sail World in Buzzards Bay and are being sold to businesses that want to display them for $1,300 each.

The sails have a 2-by-2 cement grounding box, which means that businesses and individuals interested in purchasing them need to have a space in front of their facility in which to place them.

The Sail Trail also has an artistic bent. The steering committee is requiring that the sails, which do not have art on them when sold, be professionally designed or painted by a local artist or organization in a manner that fits in with the seaside communities of the Cape Cod Canal.

The sails will be on display from March 2013 until August of 2014. Businesses will be asked to take them down by November of 2014.

There are 100 sails that will go up in the communities of Wareham, Bourne, and Sandwich, and the steering committee is currently trying to extend the trail to businesses all the way to New Bedford.

"We're trying to make this an adventure," said Payton.