As Fourth of July celebrations wind down for 2025, Philadelphia is already gearing up for next year's party, commemorating America's 250th birthday.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia is making preparations for the United States' 250th birthday, with city officials and organizations coordinating a series of major events. In addition to the national celebration, the city will host the MLB All-Star Game, six World Cup matches, the PGA Championship, and March Madness, drawing an expected 500,000 additional visitors.

Organizers are investing $120 million in projects to ensure the festivities are both grand and inclusive, with museums, neighborhoods, and historical sites participating. Reflecting on previous milestone celebrations, planners are focused on avoiding past exclusions and aim to unite the community through a diverse and representative program.

Looking ahead to America's 250th birthday celebration in Philadelphia

More than a million people packed the streets of Philadelphia in February to celebrate the Eagles Super Bowl victory. It was an event pulled together in just two days. For 2026, the city's been planning for years. That's because in addition to the nation's 250th, they've already got a full plate. The 2026 All Star game has been awarded to the Philadelphia Eagles. Philadelphia Phillies in the city of Philadelphia next summer's MLB All Star game. Six World Cup matches, the PGA Championship and March Madness culminating in a July 4th celebration. City leaders insist will be like no other. So tell me again the US semi quincentennial the US semi quintennial Michael Neumas is Philadelphia's director of all things. 2026 quincentennial semi half semi half quincentennial 500. This is half of 500. We're getting into 250 years. I mean, it's all hands on deck. Everyone's rolling up their sleeves and we're ready. Neumas coordinated some of Philadelphia's biggest events of the last decade. Including Pope Francis is 2015 visit the 2016 Democratic National Convention and the 2017 NFL draft. He says the city's invested $120 million and is for projects both large and small. You know, when you're talking about planning the nation's birthday for the nation's birthplace, it has to be epic. It has to be intimate and everyone has to have a seat at the table. So we're putting it together by both looking at those national temple events that you mentioned, while also ensuring that we're spreading the spirit of celebration across all of our residents, all of our neighborhoods. And that work is actively underway. An additional 500,000 out of town guests are expected as well. Catherine Ott Lovell is president and CEO of Philadelphia's Visitor Center. When I think about how much is going to happen in Philadelphia in 2026, every everybody is doing something for 2026. Every museum is going to have a world class exhibit. You know, every block is going to be having block parties and festivals. You know, we're here in the most historic district in the country. We're going to have tons of people who visit here who want to see where American democracy started, where it was designed, where it was debated and ultimately declared. Right. It happened right here across the street. It happened in the room right across. That's right. The room where it happened. So this is the first draft of the United States Constitution. Some of that history will be on display at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. This is a unique printing of the decoration. This is printed about two days before the decoration is finalized. And so it's the only one that's known to survive. Librarian and CEO David Brigham gave us a preview of the upcoming exhibit Paths to Independence. How do you tell that story? Well, that's what we love about this. You know, you can tell it when you can see this, you know, when you can see the struggle on the page, they're fighting over this. They're actually shouting at each other sometimes. They're of very different minds about, you know, the differences between big states and small states, northern states and southern states. I mean, we're still in conflict about that now. A lot of these things are still with us. And that's why this matters. You know, this our history follows us. Our history is our DNA. This is our national story. We also got a history lesson on how Philadelphia marked the nation's 100th, 150th and 200th birthdays. Each of those milestones coming during politically perilous moments, the centennial in 1876, the scars of the Civil War still fresh and just months ahead of a disputed presidential election that led to the end of reconstruction 1926 coming in the wake of World War One and the Spanish flu pandemic. And in 1976, Vietnam and Watergate still on the minds of the American public. The bicentennial celebration even saw some protests in Philadelphia. People protested during the bicentennial because not everybody felt included in spite of the promise that all men are created equal. And if we can be generous and say all men and women are created equal. So, you know, half the population felt, well, that document doesn't name me. It doesn't recognize me. That's something 2026 organizers are already planning to avoid. People protested 76 because they said they didn't feel like they were a part of it. That's not going to work. We're flipping the script on what a celebration can be. How do you hope to encapsulate that feeling of brotherly love? You know, you can't lose sight of the reality that we do have some division, but you can't let that give us a reason to not celebrate all that brings us together. And in 2026 and 2025, that's exactly what we're going to do. Bring people together.

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