Celebrations around the country recall not only the events leading up to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, but also look forward and aim to make the 4th of July weekend a massive, multigenerational cultural moment focused on community connections and charitable giving. <\/p>\n
America\u2019s Block Party<\/a>, an unprecedented coast-to-coast initiative, is one of the signature events of America 250<\/a>, the congressionally chartered nonprofit overseeing the semiquincentennial celebration. <\/p>\n A Times Square Ball Drop<\/a>, a rolling series of ball drops, timed to occur at midnight on July 3 in every U.S. time zone from Guam to American Samoa, is part of the \u201cGiving 4th Broadcast Benefit Show,\u201d creating a nearly 24-hour celebration of the 250th anniversary. It\u2019s part of the broader \u201cGiving 4th\u201d initiative that aims to make and establish Independence Day the biggest annual day of giving.<\/p>\n A time capsule will be buried<\/a> in Philadelphia to be opened in 2276 on July 4. It contains a carefully curated collection of letters and artifacts reflecting the leadership, institutions, and communities that shape the country today. It will include contributions from all three branches of the U.S. federal government and submissions from each of the 50 states, Washington D.C., and five territories.<\/p>\n Separately, the White House\u2019s Freedom 250\u2019s biggest spectacles are the Great American State Fair<\/a> on the National Mall, running June 25 to July 10; the July 4 Salute to America Fireworks<\/a>, also on the National Mall; \u201cSail 4th 250<\/a>,\u201d billed as the largest-ever flotilla of tall ships from around the world in New York Harbor; and Rushmore 250<\/a>, an iconic 4th of July fireworks on July 3 alongside military concerts and live presidential reenactors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celebrations around the country recall not only the events leading up to the adoption of the Declaration of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-318915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}