Trump calls for year-long U.S. anniversary celebration in 2026

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed to craft a committee to plan a year-long series of celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

"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 in a video posted to Truth Social. "We should be preparing for a most specular birthday party. We want to make it the best of all time."

"On day one, I will convene a White House task force called 'Salute to America 250,'" Trump vowed. He contended that the committee would coordinate with state and local governments to create "not just one day of celebration, but an entire year of festivities across the nation starting on Memorial Day, 2025, and continuing through July 4, 2026."

Trump also proposed a "Great American State Fair" that would include exhibitions from all 50 states to "promote pride in our history and put forth innovations for America's history." The former president proposed hosting the event at the famous Iowa State Fair Grounds, in what would certainly prove an economic boon to a pivotal primary battleground state.

"We will build it and they will come," he said of foreign and domestic tourists.

Included in his proposal would be a so-called "Patriot Games" for high-school athletes to "show off the best of American skill, sportsmanship, and competitive spirit."

Trump further vowed to sign an executive order to create a garden of American heroes and to commission artists to create the first 100 sculptures. He then promised to invite foreign officials to the festivities.

"America's tourist industry should get ready because we're gonna have a lot of people coming," he asserted.

Trump concluded the video with an appeal to the nation's religious communities to pray for the nation, saying "from the very beginning, America has been a country sustained and strengthened by prayer and by our communities of faith."

"As we chart a course toward the next 250 years, let us come together and rededicate ourselves as one nation, under God," he concluded.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.