America's 250th Birthday Party

Event Description

America’s 250th Birthday Party at Courthouse Square!

On July 4, the Rockbridge Historical Society and Rockbridge250 jointly welcome you to celebrate America’s 250th birthday in the newly renovated civic space of Lexington’s Court House Square. There, they will stage an Open Mic inviting you to share and record community memories that look back 50 years to the 1976 Bicentennial, or to announce your “Birthday Wishes for America,” come the nation’s Tercentennial in 2076.

After the annual Children’s Bike Parade rides past on Main Street at 10 AM, join known and new neighbors at RHS’ tent to browse displays and books chronicling two-and-a-half centuries of American history. The Open Mic and patriotic readings will begin at 11 AM, with the event capped by sharing 250 red-white-and-blue-sprinkled cupcakes prepared by Sweet Treats, in a toast to this year’s spirited, landmark anniversary.

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As part of its continued community archiving projects, RHS seeks to bridge older and younger generations by interweaving these warm retrospectives, and hopeful projections, with a local emphasis on Buena Vista, Lexington, and Rockbridge. In addition to those recollections shared with known and new neighbors, area residents and descendants are also invited to write down memories, or to bring photos and memorabilia for show-and-tell, or commemorative items that might also be added to RHS’ permanent collections for preservation, or placed in the time capsule to be buried outside the Rockbridge Regional Library, to be opened in 2076.

Volunteered memories from the crowd will be complemented by selected poems and patriotic readers voiced by local community leaders and younger students, insisting both on the foundations of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” as well as continued commitments to extend equality to all Americans.

RHS will also display one of the 4 panels of the 150-square “1976 Rockbridge Bicentennial Quilt” that was created by local women’s groups before touring the state five, decades ago. Those colorful, hand-sewn designs will couple with posters from the RHS Museum’s current exhibit on the 1976 TransAmerican “Bikecentennial,” during which cyclists riding 4,250 miles along U.S. Route 76 traversed a 50-mile stretch in Rockbridge, and the neighboring half-mile descent down Main Street, itself.

For questions and more information, to volunteer for a reading, or to discuss materials you’d like to bring to display or donate, contact RHS’ Executive Director Eric Wilson at Director@RockbridgeHistory.org, or call 540.260.5091.