A British encampment. Street fights. A fire muster. A town clambake. A battle in Besse Park. Wareham is getting ready to celebrate in the Summer of 2014.

In the planning phase for more than a year, the Wareham Summer of Celebration 2014 is coming together as a 6-week celebration of the 200th anniversary of the British invasion during the War of 1812 and Wareham’s 275th birthday.

The Summer of Celebration Committee, consisting of about 15 people, has been meeting for over a year on the first and third Monday of each month. The Committee’s coordinator is Claire Smith.

“The month of June is all about the War of 1812,” Smith said

On the weekend of June 14, Smith hopes there will be a troop Encampment of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 featuring 100 soldiers on both the American and British sides. The British representation, Boston’s 10th Regiment Afoot, will commit to their calendar on the first of the year.

“Once the British commit, we will be able to say exactly what will happen,” Smith elaborated. “They plan it all out. They have the script. They work together. We just tell them what time to be here, where they’re going to set up and they just go back in that period of time and take over.”

The American representation has “done an engineering plan as to what’s going to happen.”

The committee will be working with the Falmouth Historical society to create a “museum-quality” historical exhibit on the War of 1812.

There will also “be living history displays, we have period crafters coming,” Smith explained. “We will have a street fight on Saturday on Park Street where… they will be pushing the British back to the Tremont Mill area.”

Demonstrations will include a blacksmith and a tinsmith, among others. That Sunday, the encampment will continue with a re-enactment of the attack of the HMS Nimrod at Besse Park.

“We’ll have a little battle at Besse Park, and they will take a few hostages,” Smith added. “We hope to have a few pyrotechnics a little further up Wareham River to mimic the fire they set to some cotton mills up river.”

Following the War of 1812 events, on Sunday, June 22, Zecco Marina will host a town-wide clambake party.

“It will be a true clambake,” Smith stated.

The Fourth of July weekend will feature a blessing of the fleet at Onset Pier.

“We invited all the churches to do an ecumenical service on the pier- all the choirs,” Smith said. “There will also be a boat parade that weekend on Saturday, July 5 which will precede the annual firework show.”

“There will be prizes for the best decorated boats,” Smith added. “What we are trying to do is attract people to Onset, and have them stay all day, and stay around for the fireworks and boat parade.”

As for birthday festivities, the birthday celebration on July 10 will be held at the football field by Wareham Middle School. The main event will be a parade on Saturday, July 12.

That night will be the Founder’s Ball. Presently Smith is working on the details of where and when the event will take place, but has the concept planned out.

“We’re looking for local restaurants to serve hors d’oeuvres- a taste of Wareham type thing,” Smith said.

The Summer of Celebration will conclude on Sunday, July 13. The day will feature a “hand tub fire muster.”

“On Sunday, we have old fashion hand tubs coming. Those are the pumpers that they used back in the early 1800s, and they will be doing a fire muster,” Smith said.

What is a fire muster?

“It’s buried in competition, and what they do is set up a strip of paper that would go out 50 feet… and then use this pump to build up pressure… and they have a captain that sits at the top to test the weather, and you have to wait until it’s just right because you need to shoot a stream of water… and you see who shoots the furthest,” Smith explained.

The day will also feature the town’s public safety departments including the Wareham and Onset fire departments, harbormaster, EMS and the police department doing different events.

“We’re going to have competitions between the Wareham and Onset fire departments,” Smith said. “There’s midnight alarms, where the firefighters have to take their coats, and set them up, set off a bell, and they have to get in their gear, and run and fill up a bucket of water and run back to empty to be like they were putting out a fire.”

The fire departments are also likely to challenge each other to a ladder competition. Smith wants to add more to the concluding day.

“We are reaching out to Massachusetts Antique Fire Apparatus, Rhode Island Antique Fire Apparatus, the Historic Truck Society to bring in historical fire trucks,” Smith explained. “Some that you won’t be able to touch… because they’ve been full restored- it’s white glove.”

“They will have a touch-a-truck which will have local contractors who will bring in a dump truck and a backhoe. We’re hoping to get a helicopter, a grader, a loader, so the little boys can climb on them and sit in them and pretend they’re driving.”

As of now, Smith anticipates all these events will cost roughly $100,000. Through fundraisers and sponsors, that number is becoming feasible. Three fundraising events have taken place already, most recently a wine tasting. More fundraisers are coming.

The committee is need of plenty of volunteers, as each event will require at least 25 to 30 volunteers.

To find out more about the Summer of Celebration, visit http://wareham2014.com/