America celebrates 250 years with heat, hot dogs and holograms

The 250th anniversary of American independence is colliding with a country gripped by political polarization and a heat wave bearing down on millions of people across multiple states as celebrations got underway Saturday throughout the United States.

The signing of the Declaration of Independence, one of history’s most celebrated articulations of democratic ambitions, is being marked in myriad ways.

President Donald Trump plans to speak on the National Mall before what is being billed as a historically enormous fireworks show that will rain down over the nation’s capital. He was in South Dakota at Mount Rushmore on Friday. On Thursday he had also visited the opening of the Teddy Roosevelt presidential museum in Medora, and spoke with an AI hologram of the 26th president.

Fireworks are scheduled to be set off over Navy Pier in Chicago and against the skyline of New York City. New York hosted a ball drop at midnight to usher in the holiday with the same fanfare as New Year’s Eve and saw tall ships parade pass the Statue of Liberty, recalling the fanfare around America’s 200th anniversary in 1976.

Anticipation for the milestone holiday has been building for much of the year, serving as an opportunity for Americans to reflect on their complicated history as onetime colonists of an empire who became a superpower of their own. Celebrations months in the making had to adjust or cancel activities entirely as much of the East Coast sweltered under heat that approached and in many cases surpassed triple digits.

Undeterred, a U.S. Marine from Guinea became a newly minted citizen at George Washington’s Mount Vernon in Virginia, wearing a crisp dress uniform and a small smile, while a 7-year-old raced onto a parade route in Brattleboro, Vermont, to snatch a Tootsie Roll. In Louisville, Kentucky, people used a Sharpie equipped with a feather to scribble their signatures on a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

In Washington, an extreme heat warning was issued for the District of Columbia, where heat index values could approach 115 degrees. The city’s main Independence Day parade scheduled for Saturday was canceled, but a smaller one rolled along in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in the morning as onlookers sought shade under trees along the route. 

In Philadelphia, fireworks began to crack as early as midday in the birthplace of the nation near the site where the Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Hundreds of visitors were gathering at Independence Hall in the sweltering heat to await the celebrations coinciding with the France-Paraguay World Cup knockout game at Philadelphia Stadium.

About 45 minutes before another World Cup match in Houston, a message from astronauts aboard the International Space Station noting the holiday was beamed into the stadium.

The 43 ships were followed by a display of aerial might with a stealth bomber and the Navy’s Blue Angels. Patrouille de France, the French Air Force’s acrobatic teams, flew over New York Harbor with their red, white and blue trails, evoking images of the American flag.

At George Washington’s Mount Vernon, people took the Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. citizens. They stood with eyes closed and hands over hearts for the national anthem.

On New York’s Coney Island, competitors chowed down on hot dogs at the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July contest.

Joey “Jaws” Chestnut won for the 18th time in 21 appearances, eating 66 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes.


(AP Photo Seth Wenig)