When an innovative museum opens beneath the Lincoln Memorial and the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum expands in the same year, the timing is deliberate. Washington, DC has aligned several of its largest cultural investments with America’s 250th anniversary, framing 2026 as a yearlong civic moment rather than a single ceremonial milestone.
Philadelphia welcomed 26.6 million visitors in 2024, a number that reflects a steady rebound in travel to the city. That growth sets the stage for 2026, when a concentrated lineup of national milestones and major events places Philadelphia in the national spotlight.
Fireworks exploded in the sky over the Columbia River Saturday, June 30, as part of the Fort Dalles Fourth Committee's Independence Day celebration in The Dalles. See our photo gallery (link in story) for more...
To the editor: The Fourth of July is the day the United States declared independence. Not June 30, not July 1, or whatever day is convenient to schedule festivities that will draw greater funds.
To the editor: I am a Vietnam veteran who received a battlefield commission because the Marines were looking for men with experience on the ground during a 1965 deployment. I will never walk again because I stepped up to serve my country, but at least I made it home. It is absolutely egregious to me, as a combat veteran, to have our Fourth of July fireworks display being held on another day because it is economically more advantageous.
