Visit These Cities to Celebrate America at 250

Join the patriotic festivities this year in key historic locales

The US Capitol and Lincoln Memorial near a video display showing the number 250 projected on the Washington Monument

Washington, D.C., is just one of the cities hosting events throughout 2026 to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary. Here, 250 was projected on the Washington Monument as part of a kick-off celebration.

Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images

Jane L. Levere

AARP

Published March 13, 2026

Happy semiquincentennial!

This year, the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary. While the event name doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as the bicentennial, fondly remembered from 50 years ago, we can expect a similar amount of fanfare, not only around July 4 but year-round.

Such tributes allow Americans “to breathe in and reflect on 250 years, the sacrifices our founders made to bring about the experiment of the republic and our work that continues to preserve it,” says Chris O’Brien, president of Sail4th 250, the organization planning some events in New York and New Jersey.

Several favorite U.S. destinations for adults age 50-plus, according to AARP’s 2026 Travel Trends survey, are offering semiquincentennial activities — including New York and Florida.

To help with your patriotic travel planning, here’s where to go and what you can expect. Details were still being worked out in many cases, so be sure to check the event websites for updated information.

Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was adopted, will host a number of 250th anniversary events. Here, the Liberty Bell.

D. Knoll

Philadelphia

ArtPhilly, a five-week arts and culture festival, will offer more than 30 performances, exhibitions and projects throughout the city from May 27 through July 4. The theme of the festival, “What Now: 2026,” will challenge “artists, local cultural institutions and audiences to blend art and history to imagine what the future holds for both our city and country.”

The Wawa Welcome America Festival, from Juneteenth (June 19) through July 4, will include free events: six nights of fireworks displays; a parade representing all states and territories; block parties; and multiple concerts, including a performance by the Philly Pops on July 3 near Independence Hall, the site of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

“The Declaration’s Journey” exhibit on display at the Museum of the American Revolution through Jan. 3, 2027, features more than 120 rare artifacts and documents, plus video and illustrations highlighting the influence and legacy of the Declaration of Independence not only in the U.S. but across 100 nations worldwide.

Fireworks are part of the July 4 celebration in Washington, D.C.

Courtesy Washington.org

Washington, D.C.

The city’s annual National Cherry Blossom Festival, from March 20 to April 12, will feature the planting of 250 new cherry trees. The trees are a gift from Japan, which donated the original trees in 1912.

From April 10 to Oct. 12, the United States Botanic Garden will display the official flowers of each U.S. state and territory. Another outdoor treat: the 1947 carousel on the National Mall, which has been under renovation for the past two years, is slated to reopen to the public in late April.

Beginning in late spring and running through much of the year, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History will present “In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness,” an exhibit featuring 250 objects that embody the ideals in the Declaration of Independence. They include the portable desk — a box that flips open to provide a larger writing surface and a small drawer for pens and ink — designed by Thomas Jefferson to draft the document. Also, there’s the gunboat Philadelphia, the only surviving American ship from the Revolutionary War.

The week of July 4, the National Archives will host a multiday, family-friendly event, culminating in a finale on Independence Day. The event will include live music, a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence and an opportunity to view the original document.

After that, head to the National Mall for the Independence Day parade along Constitution Avenue, featuring floats and marching units representing all 50 states and a salute to the U.S. military.

On the evening of July 4, “A Capitol Fourth,” the annual concert and fireworks show, will be staged on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.

Another musical highlight: a citywide festival, “The Future of Jazz: America’s Next 250 Years,” will be held from Sept. 2 to 6. It will feature new compositions inspired by the 250th anniversary.

“July 4 is always big in D.C.,” says Elliott L. Ferguson II, president and CEO of Destination DC. “No place tells America’s story as vividly.”

Boston Harborfest Fireworks explode over the Boston Seaport District

Boston Harborfest will offer free concerts at Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park. Here, fireworks can be seen over the Boston Seaport District.

Stan Grossfeld/Getty Images

Boston

The signature event of the city’s 250th celebrations will be the “Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular,” featuring music and pyrotechnics, on the Charles River Esplanade the night of July 4.

In addition, Boston Harborfest will offer free concerts at Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park on July 2 and 3.

Ships near the Statue of Liberty in New York

Tall ships from around the world will participate in a Parade of Sail past the Statue of Liberty in New York.

Courtesy Sail 4th

New York

Carnegie Hall, the legendary Manhattan concert hall founded by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie in 1891, is hosting a “United in Sound: America at 250” festival, with more than 35 concerts at the hall, plus additional musical events across the city.

Performances will feature bluegrass, Broadway show tunes, classical music, country, film music, hip-hop, jazz, R&B and rock ’n’ roll and more. Performers will include the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America and Harry Connick Jr.

On the morning of July 4, about 30 tall ships from around the world, led by the U.S. Coast Guard barque Eagle, will participate in a Parade of Sail from the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, past the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge. Also, starting at 1 p.m. July 3, a parade of 30 Class B tall ships will sail down the East River.

On display through Dec. 31 at the Center for Brooklyn History is “The Battle of Brooklyn: Fought and Remembered,” about the August 1776 battle, the largest of the Revolutionary War.

Also head to Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark that contains Battle Hill, a key site during the Battle of Brooklyn. Free America 250 walking and trolley tours will be offered here in June and July, focusing on Battle Hill and Revolutionary-era graves.

Small fortifications and ammunitions bunkers at Fort Moultrie in South Carolina

In South Carolina, Fort Moultrie, seen here, is where the British navy was defeated in 1776.

Getty Images

Charleston, South Carolina

Founded in 1670, Charleston, a major port, was the fourth-largest city in the colonies by 1770. The British tried to seize it in June 1776, the first major Revolutionary War battle on this colony’s coast. In fact, more battles and skirmishes were fought in South Carolina during the war than in any other colony.

Elizabeth Chew, CEO of the South Carolina Historical Society, says she hopes visitors to Charleston “understand the strategic importance of the city to British plans to subdue the colonies. South Carolina’s victory over the British army and navy in June 1776 was a remarkable achievement.”

To mark the anniversary, Charleston has created a special four-day Revolutionary War 250th package, offering travelers a chance to visit historic homes and churches, a former plantation, a prisoner of war dungeon and Charleston’s harbor. At the harbor’s entrance is Fort Moultrie (formerly Fort Sullivan), where the British navy was defeated in 1776.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra will offer a series of concerts throughout June 2026.

Todd Rosenber Photography

Chicago

Throughout June 2026, the renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) will offer a series of concerts at Symphony Center that will “honor the nation’s rich and evolving cultural landscape.” In addition to the CSO, performers will include the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, pianist Conrad Tao and mandolinist, composer, singer and songwriter Chris Thile. There will also be a musical tribute to John Williams and Steven Spielberg and a screening of Star Wars: A New Hope, accompanied by the CSO.

Fort Ticonderoga is hosting programs through 2027 that will bring the critical years of the war to life in real time.

Courtesy NYS Dept. of Economic Dev. (NYSDED)

Fort Ticonderoga, New York

Located at the junction of Lake Champlain and Lake George, this fort controlled access between Albany and Montreal. On May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen and his militia, the Green Mountain Boys, accompanied by Benedict Arnold, stormed the fort in a late-night sneak attack. Weapons captured at the fort were carried by Col. Henry Knox from Ticonderoga to Boston, under the order of George Washington, who used them to force the British to evacuate the city in March 1776.

Programs at the fort through 2027 will bring the critical years of the war to life in real time, offering visitors a look at the events and people that defined the fight for independence.

A reenactment at Virginia’s Historic Triangle,

In Virginia’s Historic Triangle, there will be live music, parades and interactive festivals as part of anniversary celebrations.

Courtesy Visit Williamsburg

Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, Virginia

Head to Virginia’s Historic Triangle for Jamestown, the site of the first permanent English settlement; Williamsburg, the former capital of Virginia; and Yorktown, the site of the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.

Throughout 2026, these cities are offering live music, parades and interactive festivals, plus fireworks displays. There will also be new museum exhibits exploring America’s past, as well as local flavors at historic taverns.

The Mount Hood Cultural Center and Museum

If you're interested in the history of the Oregon Trail and the Pacific Northwest, consider a road trip through the Mount Hood Territory. Here, the Mount Hood Cultural Center and Museum.

Courtesy MtHoodTerritory.com

Mount Hood Territory, Oregon

Southeast of Portland, the Mount Hood Territory is offering a road trip for those interested in the history of the Oregon Trail and the Pacific Northwest. The itinerary’s historic homes, cultural landmarks and museums will give visitors a close-up look at its early communities.

The itinerary culminates at Timberline Lodge, a National Historic Landmark offering year-round recreational activities, fine dining, a wine program and a microbrewery that uses glacial water, plus a variety of accommodations.

Route 66 is celebrating its centennial in 2026. An 18-mile stretch of the highway in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will be converted into a public art project.

Dirt Road Travels

Route 66 centennial celebration

Another major anniversary celebrated in 2026 is the centennial of Route 66. Part of the nation’s first federal highway system, it stretches across two-thirds of North America.

The celebration will kick off in Springfield, Missouri, with a concert headlined by Little Big Town at Missouri State University’s Great Southern Bank Arena on April 30. This marks the anniversary of the 1926 telegram sent from Springfield to Washington, D.C., requesting that a new transcontinental road be named Route 66.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, also on Route 66, is converting its 18-mile stretch of the highway into a public art project celebrating the centennial with 18 large-scale murals and sculptures, as well as augmented reality experiences.

St. Pete-Clearwater, Florida

The theme of Clearwater Beach’s annual Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival is “United in Sand: Celebrating Sports and Spirit.” It is meant to show how sports bring people together and how this shared energy creates community pride.

Eighteen master sand sculptors from around the world will use 1,000 tons of the beach’s sand to create a walk-through art exhibit during the March 27 to April 12 festival. The exhibit will also offer an immersive, augmented reality experience that pays tribute to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Also available will be free sand-sculpting classes, live music, fireworks and food vendors.

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