NEW ORLEANS -- Mayor Ray Nagin plans to mark the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with a low-key bell-ringing at the time of the first levee breach, and later in the day, a candlelight vigil at Jackson Square.

There will be other events, but city officials will focus on these two, Nagin spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett said Friday.

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Mayor Ray Nagin.

Memorials on the first anniversary of the Aug. 29, 2005 storm included somber services and a jazz funeral from the convention center to the Louisiana Superdome -- two sites of human suffering after Katrina. Last year, there were tearful remembrances and angry protests when President Bush visited.

Nagin said he doesn't want to overdo it this year. However, he said the city will invite presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, congressional representatives and celebrities he did not identify.

The bell-ringing "is about the sadness of the event," Nagin said, "but the afternoon is kind of like, 'We got through it, celebrate our recovery and let's point to the future.' And that's how I kind of see the day going."

Quiett said the Jackson Square vigil is meant to remind people of the promise President Bush made in his September 2005 address: to do what it takes to help hurricane-affected citizens rebuild their communities and lives.

While vast portions of some neighborhoods remain in shambles, dotted by empty damaged properties and lots overgrown with weeds, other areas have rebounded. The city, for example, claims a long list of infrastructure projects planned or under way and unemployment is low. The vital tourism industry also has had a strong year.

Key challenges remain, though, including a crime wave and a lack of affordable housing and health care.

"We still have a lot of work to do," Nagin said, "but we definitely have turned a corner, in my opinion."

Nagin expects Aug. 29 to be a tough day.

"I have my moments, just like anybody else would, when I go back mentally to that day and what happened and what did we do, what could we have done better, or worse. It's a tough time," he said. "But it's something we have to do and, as time goes on, it gets a little easier."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)