How to Celebrate America’s 250th Birthday

Sign up to receive it in your inbox.In a letter to his wife, Abigail, from July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote of his idealized vision for future celebrations of American independence: “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” Now two hundred and fifty years deep into the American experiment, his wish has become a reality, as all the hallmarks of his proposed ritual ring forth for a monumental birthday bash in New York City.

Photograph by Kent Andreasen / KintzingGames and sports lead the festivities. If baseball is the American pastime, there may be no better place to spend the Fourth of July than at Yankee Stadium, where the Bronx Bombers play the Minnesota Twins, led by the U.S. national-team captain Aaron Judge. Outside Nathan’s Famous on Coney Island, one of the more beloved Independence Day traditions returns: the Hot Dog Eating Contest. As competitors down dogs for ten straight minutes with a ravenous efficiency that feels worlds apart from snacking on a frank at the ballpark, eating escalates into an élite physical spectacle nearing performance art. The undefeated women’s champ and world-record holder Miki Sudo looks to raise her eleventh mustard belt, while the face of competitive eating, Joey Chestnut, seeks his eighteenth victory. But Chestnut seems to be running down his own shadow, chasing the record seventy-six dogs he ate in 2021, after a seventy-dog performance last summer.

There is also plenty of pomp, along with bells, bonfires, and illuminations. The Times Square ball will drop on a day that’s not New Year’s Eve for the first time in history, marking midnight in each American time zone to kick off birthday celebrations. In keeping with Operation Sail, a series of events commemorating special occasions over the years, Sail4th 250 ushers a fleet of tall ships from more than twenty countries into New York Harbor and toward the Statue of Liberty. The fiftieth Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks show leads what are sure to be explosive demonstrations across town, featuring the musicians Post Malone, Noah Kahan, Shaboozey, and more—“Red, White & Views” presents a waterfront view of the show from the South Street Seaport Museum, and Edge NYC’s sky-high fireworks lets partygoers enjoy the display from its observation deck with music all night.