Norwich — A celebration of the 155th anniversary of the publication of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation will be held at 3:15 p.m. Saturday with the ringing of the city’s Freedom Bell, commissioned to mark the 150th anniversary, and a downtown walking tour tracing Lincoln’s campaign visit in 1860.

Members of the American Bell Association International, in town for the New England Chapter meeting Saturday, will be on hand for Saturday’s ceremony. The event, hosted by Friends of the Norwich Bells, is free and open to the public.

Mayor Deberey Hinchey will welcome the visitors, who contributed to the casting of the bell in 2012. City Historian Dale Plummer said he is excited about Saturday’s event, because many association members visited Norwich for the casting of the bell at the Howard T. Brown Memorial Park, but couldn’t stay long enough to see it erected at the tower outside City Hall and hear it ring.

Following the ceremony, Plummer will lead a short walking tour from City Hall, down Broadway past the Wauregan, where Lincoln stayed during his March 9, 1860, visit, along Main Street to Franklin Square. He will point out some of the city’s great bells in downtown churches and City Hall.

On Sept. 23, 1862, newspapers across the north published the full text of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation after the president presented it to his Cabinet the previous day.

The Norwich Freedom Bell outside City Hall is the only tower bell erected specifically to honor the Emancipation Proclamation and is rung on special days to highlight the quest for justice and freedom among all people.

The New England Chapter of the American Bell Association Inc. is meeting on Saturday in Norwich on its 55th anniversary. For information about the association, go to americanbell.org.

For more information about historic bells of Norwich, go to friendsofthenorwichbells.com.