Michele Johnson remembers America celebrating the bicentennial when she was a child, but she doesn’t remember feeling like her family of immigrants was invited to the party.
Now the director of the Maryland 250 commission, Johnson says her goal is to ensure all Maryland residents feel they can take part in the country’s milestone.
“As the director of this commission, that has guided me from day one,” said Johnson, whose grandparents emigrated from Eastern Europe. “That memory of knowing that the bicentennial was happening right under my nose, and my family feeling like it was not for us.”
Gov. Wes Moore established the Maryland 250 commission in 2023, as part of a national goal to have all 50 states and six U.S. territories celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
It serves as the state’s official representative for the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, a bipartisan committee created by Congress in 2016. More commonly known as America 250, the national commission has worked with other groups on the state and local level to plan events to help commemorate the date, with an ever-growing list of programming and events on its website.
Neither Maryland 250 or American 250 is connected to Freedom 250, the nonprofit President Donald Trump established to create and market programming around the nation’s anniversary. So far those events have included a UFC fight on the White House grounds and a Great American State Fair on the national mall.
The fair, a 16-day event which ends July 10, features pavilions that represent each of the country’s states and territories. It has drawn controversy after several artists pulled out the fair’s performance lineup due to its political connections.
At least eight states have also opted out of participating in the fair, with many citing financial constraints.
Showcase for Maryland tourism and culture
Maryland, however, is represented. A spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Commerce, which organized the booth, said in a statement that participating in the fair gave Maryland an opportunity to showcase Maryland’s “tourism and cultural offerings” due to the large numbers of tourists expected to attend the event.
Maryland’s booth is lined with yellow and red displays highlighting the state’s history and the technology industry, along with a photo booth where attendees can pose in front of different backgrounds representing the state’s past and future.
The booth also features a different local artist each day. Jamie Naluai, a mural artist based in Southern Maryland, was there on Monday. She brought watercolor and colored pencils for attendees to use. Naluai said wanted to participate to make art more accessible to the families who attended.
“I was really excited to make sure people know this isn’t political,” Naluai said. “This is about celebrating 250 years. This is about celebrating Maryland, the place I live. It’s about celebrating community, and of course, it’s also about celebrating art.”
Debbie Feese and her husband, Kevin Feese, both grew up in Maryland, but now live in Virginia. They said they came to the fair to celebrate the country and liked that Maryland’s pavilion featured a new artist every day and enjoyed taking home a photo with a historical background.
“I think people need to be more patriotic than they are,” Debbie Feese said. “It’s not all about politics, you know. A lot of people think it is and it shouldn’t be.”
Leyla Barrientos, who is originally from Puerto Rico but lives in Washington D.C., said she wishes more people would “set aside their differences” to celebrate the milestone.
“250 is America 250, and not just a single party,” Barrientos said. “Regardless of what the political standing is, I just wish that more people would set that aside and stop the bickering for like five seconds.”
Maryland 250 working to engage all Marylanders
Johnson with the Maryland 250 Commission said that while some people may feel “disengaged” from the national celebrations, she hopes people can feel comfortable celebrating at events organized by their local commissions.
The Maryland 250 commission has recognized more than 25 local commissions across that state. Johnson said the focus of her commission is to help support the local groups by bringing together government members, museum leaders and artists to celebrate the semiquincentennial.
Authorized to last till the end of 2027, the commission will continue to promote and work with the local organizations past July 4.
Meagan Baco, who is involved in the Prince George’s County commission, said its members wanted to focus on planning free events that highlighted diverse historical perspectives. It organized a series of events about genealogy and held a block party-style event with live music, local artists and panel discussions about Native American history and civil rights.
Shaun Butcher, a co-chair of the Frederick County commission, said it was important to the group to ensure its programming was accessible and engaging for people of different ages and backgrounds. The commission has put on a free concert with 18th-century style music and planned theater productions staging the Founding Father’s debates before signing the Declaration of Independence.
He hopes the events he helped organize remind people that the country has always had differing perspectives, but that Americans are continuously working toward a “more perfect union.”
“We want everyone to come together,” he said. “We are celebrating the 250th anniversary of our country. That is a historic milestone. We can pause for a moment and celebrate that, and then reinvigorate ourselves to that debate and that dialog about what those ideals and ideas should be about, and if we are meeting them. That’s what I think this celebration is all about.”
