Olympia will unveil an honorary Kato Street sign Saturday, Sept. 19, marking 45 years of sister-city ties with Kato, Japan.

The public ceremony starts at 11 a.m. at the corner of Cherry Street and 4th Avenue, outside City Hall. Mayor Dontae Payne will emcee the event and lead the unveiling of the new street sign.

"For 45 years, this relationship has been built person by person, family by family and friendship by friendship," Payne said in a city statement, as reported by The JOLT. "The Kato Street designation honors all the people who have sustained that connection and reminds us that this friendship is still growing."

The partnership began in April 1981, when Olympia signed a Sister City Friendship Agreement with the town of Yashiro in Hyogo Prefecture in western Japan, according to the city's sister city page.

Yashiro merged with the neighboring communities of Takino and Tōjō to form the City of Kato in March 2006. The sister-city relationship carried on through student exchanges, family connections and cultural programs.

Karen Fraser, a former Olympia mayor and state legislator, helped launch the original 1981 partnership. T

he Japanese government awarded Fraser the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, in 2017 for her work promoting cultural exchange between the two countries, according to the Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle. Fraser also helped create the Yashiro Japanese Garden in Olympia. She will speak at the ceremony about the relationship's origins.

Hyogo Business & Cultural Center Executive Director Takahisa Ikegami will deliver remarks on behalf of Kato Mayor Tadashi Iwane.

Former Olympia Mayor Cheryl Selby, who serves as president of the Olympia Kato Sister City Association, will discuss the partnership's continuing role in the community.

The ceremony will also recognize volunteers, families, former exchange participants and partners who have kept the relationship alive over four decades.

The designation is honorary and does not rename the street. The city has not specified which block or stretch will carry the Kato Street sign. The event is free and open to the public.