Former President Trump is eying a “spectacular” yearlong celebration of the country’s 250th birthday from 2025 into 2026 if he returns to the White House.
Trump’s campaign said in a Wednesday release that Trump plans to convene a White House task force called “Salute to America 250” to coordinate with state and local governments to hold semiquincentennial festivities across the United States from Memorial Day 2025 to July 4, 2026.
“Three years from now, the United States will celebrate the biggest and most important milestone in our country’s history — 250 years of American Independence,” Trump said. “That’s why as a nation, we should be preparing for the most spectacular birthday party. We want to make it the best of all time.”
The release states the administration would work with all 50 state governors to create a yearlong “Great American State Fair” with pavilions from all states, with the fair being held in Iowa on its state fairgrounds.
Trump also plans to host sports contests for high school athletes to “allow young Americans from every state to show off the best of American skill, sportsmanship, and competitive spirit” and invite leaders and citizens of other countries to visit the U.S. in honor of the occasion.
“America’s tourist industry should get ready because we’re going to have a lot of people coming. It will be a record year,” he said.
Trump said he will reissue an executive order on his first day in office to create a “National Garden of American Heroes” and commission artists to create the first 100 statues to be included in the garden in honor of the “greatest Americans of all time.”
He announced during a visit to Mount Rushmore in July 2020 he was issuing an executive order to create the garden in honor of various notable Americans throughout history. President Biden revoked the order in May 2021.
Some historians raised questions about the choices Trump called for including in the garden, which was set to include several notable Republican figures but no Democratic presidents and no Native American, Latino or Hispanic figures.
Trump also said he would ask the religious communities to “pray” for the country because “America has been a country sustained and strengthened by prayer and by our communities of faith.”