WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s plans to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary of independence with a rally on the National Mall were complicated on Saturday by severe storms that gathered near Washington, forcing event organizers to order an evacuation.
“Freedom 250 will share updates on programming and doors reopening,” Freedom 250 spokesperson Danielle Alvarez said in a statement that encouraged participants to seek shelter at museums and federal buildings near the National Mall.
Plans for fireworks were still moving forward in other cities including Chicago and New York, where tall ships passed the Statue of Liberty earlier in the day, 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. Organizers of 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, Vt., to snatch a Tootsie Roll. In Louisville, Ky., people used a Sharpie equipped with a feather to scribble their signatures on a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
Heat is defining the big weekend in many places
The heat gripping the East Coast overshadowed much of the celebrations, particularly in Washington. Signs at the Great American State Fair posted an alert shortly after 7 p.m. encouraging participants to leave the area.
As the order to evacuate was played over loudspeakers on the National Mall, some people appeared to be standing in place, talking with those around them and not exiting the area, while others were walking toward exits. National Guard troops told people to leave.
The National Mall is an exposed park, though museums and other buildings are near the open, grassy area.
Crowds were building in the area several hours before Trump’s speech. Tina Hale, 58, of Cohoes, New York, watched three of her grandchildren children dip their hands into a pool of water near a museum. Hale pointed toward the sky and urged them to look up as three military jets roared above the crowd.
“If that doesn’t make you proud to be an American,” she said.
David Koshko, 42, and his wife, Jennifer Koskho, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, came to Washington for a baseball game but planned to stay for the city’s fireworks show. After baking in the heat for hours during the Pittsburgh Pirates’ win over the Washington Nationals, they took a break in the shade of an overpass near the National Mall to plot their next stop.
“Just to be a part of the 250 years (anniversary) is an amazing thing,” said David Koshko, a commercial driver and veteran of the Marine Corps reserves.
In Washington, 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.
Also in the area, dozens of members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front wearing face masks and carrying Confederate battle flags held a march. No arrests were reported, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
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.
“It’s one big party in here,” Carlos Alban, who traveled to Philadelphia from Chicago to watch the match, said as he arrived at the stadium, adding that he spotted a fan in the parking lot dressed as one of the Founding Fathers.
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.
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. On the women’s side, defending champion Miki Sudo of Tampa, Fla., held the title by downing 38.75 dogs. Both champions said the heat wave made the competition more difficult.
Tall ships, with their masts, rigging, and white sails outlined against a blue sky, made a procession around the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson River.
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.
An uneasy nation gets ready to celebrate
The celebrations are unfolding against the backdrop of a deep divide this election year that has been expanding for years, visible in everything from political expression to cultural norms to age-old questions over race, class, and immigration.
At Mount Rushmore on Friday, Trump spoke of communism as a “mortal threat to American liberty” with the Republican president saying it was more dangerous than either World War or 9/11.
Without naming Trump, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat who is also a democratic socialist and recently backed several successful congressional candidates in their primaries, appeared to reference Trump during a speech Friday.
“Those ideals upon which our nation was built — they are strong enough to endure any authoritarian regime, but only if we reach for them,” he said.
To former Democratic President Bill Clinton, this anniversary milestone comes at a time of “renewed questions about America’s future and role in the world, and serious threats to our own institutions and to our democracy itself.” While critical of “the people in charge,” he said in a statement that “there is still nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what’s right with America.”
Vice President JD Vance said small but loud voices would speak on America’s birthday about its imperfections instead of its greatness.
“They will tell you that America is just another country, where the weak struggle against the strong,” Vance said speaking aboard the USS Kearsarge in New York Harbor.
