It’s a celebration that will be crowded with many VIPs. No matter that most of them are long gone.

Then again, that’s par for the course at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, which will, er, come alive April 3 as its 160th anniversary is marked.

Ceremonies will begin at 11 a.m. in the Washington Irving Chapel, with a proclamation being read from the state government to the Cemetery Board that will recognize the contributions the cemetery has made to the area.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery has become one of Westchester County’s most popular tourist attractions, as visitors come to look at the often-ornate burial grounds for the rich and famous of days past. While the cemetery is home to 45,000 internments of men and women great and small, it’s the likes of Andrew Carnegie, Elizabeth Arden, Brooke and Vincent Astor, William Rockefeller, Walter Chrysler, and Samuel Gompers who draw the crowds.

The cemetery is also popular locally with joggers, parents pushing strollers, and hikers along the Croton Aqueduct or on the Rockefeller estate looking for a change of scenery. Especially when the trees and shrubs are in full bloom, the cemetery retains a rural feel for those seeking a dose of tranquility.

“It’s also a place of great art,” said Howard Cohen, a cemetery spokesman. “Many of the mausoleums and headstones were created by the great architects of their time.”

The proclamation will also note the cemetery’s recent inclusion on the New York State Register of Historic Places. Then comes the birthday cake.

Birthday cake? Well, yes. As it turns out, April 3 is also the 227th birthday of Washington Irving, who also happens to be buried there.

Back in Irving’s day, the place was called the Rural Cemetery of the Tarrytowns, which bothered him. Given the short story that brought him worldwide fame, it’s no surprise he favored a different name. However, it should be noted that the setting for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is the adjoining Old Dutch Church and its burial ground. Neither is affiliated with Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

The name was changed several years after Irving was laid to rest in 1849 overlooking the grounds of the Old Dutch Church, where a costumed actor will be reading “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” at the celebration.

Maps will be available for self-guided walking tours to visit famous sites in the cemetery, which also has monuments to local veterans of the Revolutionary War and Civil War.

To get to the celebration, enter the main cemetery gate on Route 9. For more information, visit www.sleepyhollowcemetery.org.