Jul 3, 2026 3 min read

It’s go time!

After years of planning and preparation, we toast our nation’s semiquincentennial!

And what a star-spangled spectacular is in store locally and on the national stage for the 250th!

From Canonsburg, Pennsylvania – home of the beloved Fourth of July parade – to Coney Island, New York, where Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest launched competitive eating as an organized sport, we are poised to celebrate a quarter millennium of independence with family, friends, food and fun.

Red, white and blue is the order of the day in the run-up to the epic capstone: fireworks displays in towns and cities across the country, including one in our nation’s capital that promises to be the biggest in our history.

No doubt about it: Americans are proud, patriotic people, united – even if just for the day – in commemorating the birth of our country as an independent nation.

Founding Father John Adams famously predicted in a July 3, 1776, letter to his wife, Abigail, that the day would be a cherished occasion destined for infinite celebration.

“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America,” Adams wrote. “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore.”

While he erred on the date, Adams’ prognostication was spot-on. Americans indeed have a reputation for celebrating – particularly milestones – in grand fashion, dating all the way back to 1826, when the country marked 50 years of independence.

Arguably, the most interesting aspect of July 4, 1826, has little to do with any party, however.

Washington, D.C.’s mayor invited the three remaining signers of the Declaration of Independence to the national Jubilee he had organized in his city. All three – John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Charles Carroll – declined because of poor health and advanced age.

In poignant irony, both Adams and Jefferson passed away on that very Independence Day. Oddly, five years later, another founder, former president James Monroe, also died on July 4.

Fast forward to today, when readers of a certain age will recall our nation’s 1976 bicentennial. The occasion was marked with a host of iconic tributes, among them the American Freedom Train. The traveling museum – modeled after its namesake Freedom Train that took to the nation’s rails after World War II – spent close to two years criss-crossing the country, visiting 138 cities to give folks a close-up look at all sorts of Americana and artifacts, including the original Louisiana Purchase agreement, a moon rock, and Dorothy’s dress from the Wizard of Oz, to name a few of the 500-plus items in tow.

The collectors among us undoubtedly have keepsakes – commemorative coins, postage stamps, buttons, toys – tucked away to remember the historic anniversary.

Now make room for the America 250 memorabilia to pass along to the next generation of proud Americans.

Let’s get the party started!