As Washington, D.C. completes final preparations for the Saturday, June 14 military parade and day-long festival marking the U.S. Army’s 250thanniversary, there’s a bigger, grander birthday celebration on the horizon that could end up eclipsing this weekend’s brouhaha.
July 4, 2026 marks the nation’s semiquincentennial − its 250th birthday since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Organizers of the June 14 parade and Army Birthday Festival call them the “opening event” for the yearlong celebration of America’s 250th birthday set for 2026. It is unclear if the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps will get their own parade spectacle during their 250th birthdays this fall.
Here’s what to know about celebrations for America’s 250th birthday.
Trump’s military parade: What is the June 14 event in DC celebrating?
Years in the making
While the festivities in central Washington, D.C. this weekend have only been in the works, in earnest, for a little over a month, launched by President Donald Trump in the first few months of his second term, the 2026 semiquincentennial has been years in the making.
Though the nation’s 250th birthday can also technically be called the sestercentennial, quarter millennial or bisesquicentennial, it appears semiquincentennial is the de-facto term.
Planning for America’s 250th started nearly nine years ago by an act of Congress, when the 2016 U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission Act was passed. It established a commission to plan for the observance and commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, charged with overseeing related celebrations ranging from the local- and state-level to national and international spheres.
Up next: A time capsule, and a ‘traveling tech expo’
Further, Trump issued an executive order Jan. 29 establishing a White House Task Force on “Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday,” charged with providing “a grand celebration” marking the July 4 anniversary. The task force, alongside the Semiquincentennial Commission, will “plan, organize, and execute an extraordinary celebration of the 250th Anniversary of American Independence,” according to the president’s order.
America250, the nonprofit arm of the effort, says on its website that there will be a national celebration in Washington, D.C. and across the country on July 4, 2026, and will also bury a time capsule in Philadelphia on America’s 250th.
The organization says there will also be a traveling tech expo that displaying “America’s greatest innovations as well as our aspirations for the future.” The commission has not released further details of these events and initiatives slated for next year, and representatives have not responded to USA TODAY’s request for comment for more information.
America250 has led several associated initiatives and programs since the commission’s 2016 founding, including a volunteer drive, an oral and visual storytelling project to collect and preserve U.S. history and an essay and artwork contest for schoolchildren with the prompt “What does America mean to you?”
The nonpartisan Semiquincentennial Commission is composed of 16 private citizen and eight members of Congress, its website says, as well as 12 ex officio members from all three branches of the federal government and its independent agencies. The America250 congressional caucus includes more than 280 members of Congress, and in December became the largest bipartisan, bicameral caucus in Congress, according to the commission’s annual report.
Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY.
Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@usatoday.com and on X @KathrynPlmr.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Get ready for more 250th birthday parties: Semiquincentennial in 2026
