Cities foster community connections while commemorating America’s semiquincentennial.
By Kaya Williams
Throughout 2026, cities across Washington and around the nation are celebrating 250 years of what Spokane Valley Mayor Laura Padden calls “a continuous experiment in self-governance.”
July 4, 2026, marks the 250th anniversary, or semiquincentennial, of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Because its own history is brief—Spokane Valley, Spokane’s largest suburb, was incorporated in 2003—the city is collaborating with the Spokane County Library District, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Sons of the American Revolution to add depth and gravitas to its celebrations. All four are local partners with Washington’s Semiquincentennial Committee, which offers resources so every community can honor America’s birthday.
All history is local, and this place just proves that over and over again.
– Dollie Boyd, Moses Lake Museum & Art Center superintendent
Spokane Valley kicked off its festivities on April 18, 2025—the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s midnight ride—with a costumed actor reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poetic retelling to a crowd gathered on the lawn outside city hall. The event was inspired by Two Lights for Tomorrow, a nationwide initiative that invited communities to mark the onset of a yearlong semiquincentennial celebration by displaying two lights in recognition of our history of working together for a better tomorrow. Two Lights for Tomorrow’s message of community cohesion around a common cause resonates with Padden, both personally and in her role as mayor.
“We’re people. We’re fallible, we stray, and we get off the path,” she notes. “We need to be reminded: What are our goals? What was the purpose of the United States of America? If we don’t believe that it’s something to fight for and something to preserve, in one generation, truly, it will be gone.”
Spokane Valley’s mayor issued a proclamation in June recognizing 2026 as a celebration of America’s 250th and another in September in honor of Constitution Week. A November public forum at the Spokane Valley Library provided an overview of the local and statewide semiquincentennial initiatives. Other activities included a patriotic bus tour for elementary school students and an upcoming picnic in the park featuring patriotic music by the military’s Navy Band Northwest, colonial games, flag displays, and costumed actors.
This summer, a hundred miles west of Spokane Valley in Moses Lake, a concert series in the city’s creative district will highlight a spectrum of American music genres, from country and rock to a Tejano and conjunto band that represents the area’s large Hispanic population. The Moses Lake Museum & Art Center is hosting a speaker series for America’s 250th as well as several workshops featuring local artisans and crafts such as quilting and woodworking.
“We wanted to focus on our community and the American experience here in Moses Lake,” explains Museum Superintendent Dollie Boyd, who also plans to stage exhibitions that capture both the joys and challenges of life in Moses Lake. “All history is local, and this place just proves that over and over again.”
Over on Puget Sound, the City of Gig Harbor is organizing its first significant Fourth of July event in recent memory. The focus is family-friendly entertainment, says Mayor Mary Barber, with a downtown celebration that includes hands-on activities, carnival games, a parade of kids and pets in patriotic colors and costumes, and possibly a drone show in place of fireworks.
There will also be “a ceremonial raising of the flag that will hearken back to 1776,” she promises, with Old Glory flying on a flagpole that was installed at Skansie Brothers Park for America’s bicentennial 50 years ago. The Gig Harbor Waterfront Alliance, which is partnering with the city on the event, is organizing a finger-painted flag project as “a way for participants to basically leave their mark on the city.”
“This is an opportunity to show our community spirit and what we can do as a group,” says Barber. “We want to showcase things that bring us together rather than things that divide us.”
For more information: cityofml.com; gigharborwa.gov; spokanevalleywa.gov.