America marks 250th anniversary with muted, divided July 4 celebrations
Americans out for the 250th are finding canceled events, not a party. Record heat forced Philadelphia to scrap its parade and Washington to shut the Great American State Fair. National Mall crowds stayed thin, and World Cup matches drew far bigger turnout than the anniversary its
Americans who planned to spend the Fourth celebrating the country's 250th birthday are running into a different reality: canceled parades, shuttered fairs, and commemorations that never filled up. Where the 1976 bicentennial built for months into a single national spectacle, the semiquincentennial has splintered. A record-setting heat wave stretching from Kansas to Maine, with more than 110 million people under extreme heat risk, forced organizers to change plans. Philadelphia canceled its Salute to Independence parade, and Washington temporarily closed the Great American State Fair on the National Mall and dropped a planned Fourth of July parade. Official events on the Mall drew noticeably sparse crowds. The anniversary has also divided along political lines. Control of the milestone shifted away from a bipartisan congressional commission, producing competing programs under the banners America 250 and Freedom 250. Civil rights groups and a range of civic organizations organized their own counter-events, arguing the anniversary should include communities historically excluded from full citizenship. At the same time, the World Cup being played across US cities this summer has repeatedly outdrawn the official commemorations. In Philadelphia alone, more than 68,000 fans were expected for a single round-of-16 match, while events on the Mall stayed comparatively empty. It is a sharp contrast with 1976, when the bicentennial unfolded as a single coordinated national program. Reporting from CNN, NBC News and Axios.