The city of Bowling Green will recognize dozens of new American citizens Tuesday.

Building on an event held for the first time last year, the city will host a reception for new American citizens from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Sloan Convention Center.

“People who come here and go through the whole process (of becoming a citizen), that’s something to pay attention to (and) something to be proud of,” Bowling Green Mayor Bruce Wilkerson said.

The 2015 reception drew a standing-room-only crowd of more than 70 new citizens at city hall, so the event this year is moving to the more spacious convention center.

More than 70 people who have gained their citizenship in the past year have also been invited to this year’s reception, city International Communities Liaison Leyda Becker said.

“We’ve been relying on community partners and word of mouth” to find new American citizens to invite, she said.

Ceremonies like this are usually only held in larger cities, but achieving citizenship “is a huge accomplishment and we want to congratulate them and get them plugged in with city government,” Becker said.

“People assume it’s automatic,” Becker said of the citizenship process, but it actually entails a lot of “rights and responsibilities.”

One of those is voting, which causes a spike in citizenship applications in election years like this one, Becker said. A voter registration table will be at the event.

Also featured at the reception will be recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance and guest speaker City Manager Kevin DeFebbo. Other area elected officials have also been invited to attend, Becker said, and the new citizens will receive certificates from the city.

New citizens interested in being recognized at the event should contact Becker at 270-393-3766 or leyda.becker@bgky.org.

— Follow city government reporter Wes Swietek on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNgovtbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.