From tall ships to fireworks: How Alexandria will celebrate America's 250th in 2026
City prepares lineup of events, with celebrations culminating in summer
Alexandria will welcome tall ships to its Potomac River waterfront, host the nation’s oldest George Washington birthday parade, and cap off the summer with fireworks over the river as the city commemorates the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
Celebrations kick off Feb. 14 with the George Washington Birthday Parade, the oldest and largest of its kind in the country. Thousands of spectators are expected to line the streets of Old Town as drum corps, color guards, bands, community organizations, and city dignitaries march along King Street. General Washington and Martha Washington will make an appearance.
The centerpiece of summer celebrations will be Sails on the Potomac from June 12-14, when Alexandria serves as a Sail Virginia 2026 Affiliate Harbor. The event will host the tall ships Gazela, Kalmar Nyckel, Providence, and Sultana and feature music, family activities, exhibits, tours, and educational programs.
Alexandria is one of several Virginia localities joining Norfolk, the official Sail250 Virginia host city, in welcoming tall ships in June 2026. Other affiliate harbors include Cape Charles, Chesapeake, Hampton, Onancock, Portsmouth, Richmond, Smithfield/Isle of Wight, and Yorktown.
On July 11, the city will celebrate its 277th birthday alongside the nation’s 250th at Oronoco Bay Park. The free event will feature live music, food and drink vendors, and a fireworks display over the Potomac River.
The city’s public art program has commissioned artist Sandy Williams IV to create “Time and Place,” an installation inviting visitors to reflect on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The work will be on view from May through November 2026 in the courtyard of the Alexandria Circuit Court at 520 King St.
Fort Ward Museum opened“Aboard Ship with the Jack-Tars of the Union Navy” on Oct. 2, and it runs through the end of 2026. The exhibition recognizes the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Navy on Oct. 13, 1775. It features tools, equipment, clothing, weapons, and personal items used by Union sailors from the museum’s Civil War collection.
George Washington’s Mount Vernon will unveil a revitalized “Discovering the Real George Washington” exhibit in spring 2026. The Education Center display, which has welcomed millions of visitors since 2006, is undergoing an extensive rebuild with updated scholarship and new technology. The estate also offers a Revolutionary War encampment experience and historical character engagements on the bowling green.
Three Alexandria museums — Gadsby’s Tavern Museum, the Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum and the Alexandria Black History Museum — are featured in the Virginia 250 Passport, a statewide initiative encouraging visitors to explore 70 historic sites and museums across the Commonwealth. Travelers can collect stamps at each location, receive discounts and enter a prize drawing. The free passports are available at Virginia Welcome Centers and signature sites through Dec. 31, 2026.
Really thoughtful approach to layering education through multiple touchpoints. The Virginia 250 Passport initiative is clever becuase it turns the commemorative moment into sustained museum engagement. I've seen similar passport programs work well when there's enough density of sites to keep ppl motivated. The Fort Ward exhibit focusing on Navy artifacts alongside the tall ships event creates that kind of thematic coherence visitors actually remember.