HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY 2026—OUR 250TH BIRTHDAY
Some call it our birthday, some say anniversary, and what July 4 really signifies in 2026 is that the date is 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
So I guess it IS “anniversary.”
No matter what you label it, this Fourth of July is due to be a major party, especially because it’s on a Saturday this year!
For those of you who would prefer to stay in and avoid the crowds, (hello, Mr. X!,) there are at least a few fun things to watch on TV over the weekend. Perhaps the most interesting choice is to watch the Disney Celebrates America 250 marathon. It’s a 24-hour multi-platform broadcast which runs from tonight, Friday, July 3, at 10:00 p.m. EDT through Saturday, July 4th. I don’t remember anything like this since the turn-of-the-century all day and night televising of the New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world.
This new presentation includes performances, memories, a bit of American history lessons, and, of course, fireworks. I can’t figure-out the entire schedule, but it will all be available across ABC, Disney+, ESPN, Hulu, National Geographic, Freeform, FX, and ABC News Live. My DVR is already set to record it all on basic ABC, because, as you’ll read in a minute, I will be otherwise occupied for just about all of that historic day. [Note: You can’t record streaming, which is just one of the reasons I hate those platforms!]
It might be fun to watch at least SOME part of it.
For sports nuts such as myself, there’s a plethora of choices. The main one for many is the World Cup. But, thank goodness for small favors, I could never get into soccer. Whew. There are also a ton of important baseball games. But, for me, it’s solely the middle weekend of the Wimbledon tennis tournament, which I’ve been watching obsessively since it began on Monday. It’s literally on for twelve hours a day, so I’m exhausted from just sitting on the couch!
And we’re all still on LeBron watch! I predict that will last all weekend, because he wouldn’t want to disturb this special holiday for everyone, including his own fam.
Not the most flattering still from my Fourth of July Parade video, but perhaps representative of it. Photo by Karen Salkin.
Do you want to stay in, but are not a fan of sports nor of round-the-clock Disney celebrations? You can always catch-up on all my YouTube videos, especially my favorite one about a “Fourth of July Parade” I went to a number of years ago. (I may or may not be going back again this weekend.) Here’s the link to that particular video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtLqXvbYNOE. And the link to my YouTube Channel in general is right here: www.youtube.com/channel/UCF7mwI2jwcB2xB9dBCBxLZg.
Now, to get serious for a moment, this is what I wrote at the end of my Fourth of July column in 2018: “I wish all of you a very happy and above all, safe, Fourth of July. And please spare a thought for how lucky we are to live in this country. Let’s all hope it gets better soon, despite an evil madman running it for a bit longer.” I had no idea that we’d still be here at this late date.
So, because of this lunatic, I was actually a tad concerned about if we normal folk are supposed to be celebrating America these days. But I realized that we can’t let the bad actors ruin our appreciation of this country for us—they’re already ruining much of the country itself. But I feel that we all have to be grateful for what we had before this regime, and hopefully will again beginning in January 2029. We all just have to hold on a bit longer and come together to get through it.
Now go celebrate this special occasion tomorrow, and all weekend. Just please stay safe out there. (And please make sure to check back here early next week to see what else I’ll be celebrating then!)
