Celebrations of the country’s 250th anniversary are speeding up around the region, with ceremonies in each county this month, peaking in June with a big-name concert in Luzerne County and a big break for two community theaters in Scranton.
An Exeter woman, Cassandra Coleman, is executive director of the state’s America250PA commission.
Ceremonies in Schuylkill, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wyoming, Carbon and Monroe counties are all on Sunday, Jan. 18. The times are staggered, in part because Coleman has to get to them all.
Coleman will stop at the ceremonies in each of the commonwealth’s counties over two weeks to mark the semiquincentennial.
America250PA
The America250PA mascot, the Keystone Kid, visited Hazleton Area School District for a history program.
(Courtesy of America250PA)
“It’ll give us the opportunity to highlight these counties and their overall contributions to the Pennsylvania and American story over the last 250 years, and really, ideally ignite or reignite that Pennsylvania pride, that we should all feel walking into this historic year,” she said.
Coleman, a former mayor of Exeter and a graduate of King’s College, became executive director of America250PA in 2019 after several years working in state government.
She announced that a big, free America250PA concert will be held in Luzerne County. It will be one of five concerts statewide with national acts, intended to be the regional equivalent of Philadelphia’s annual July 4 celebration on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The concert will be in June, with the performers and the venue yet to be announced. The event will be free, with registration for tickets required.
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America250PA
Miss Pennsylvania, Victoria Vespico, a Luzerne County resident, reads to children at an America250PA program.
(COURTESY OF AMERICA250PA)
America250PA
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Miss Pennsylvania, Victoria Vespico, a Luzerne County resident, reads to children at an America250PA program.
(COURTESY OF AMERICA250PA)
The biggest Lackawanna County-wide event will be a family-centered celebration at McDade Park, Scranton, on Sunday, June 28, said Kristin A. Magnotta, the county economic development director. She represents Lackawanna County on the America250PA County Advisory Committee.
Also in Scranton, Diva Theater and Actors Circle, two community theater groups, jointly received a $10,000 grant from America250PA to produce the Broadway musical “1776.”
“We just sat there with our mouths hanging open,” said Paige Balitski, co-founder Diva Theater. They are looking for a performance space for the last two weekends in June, because none of their standard venues can handle the show.
“1776” is set during the debate over the Declaration of Independence. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1969 and became a movie. A version was performed at the White House.
Before any of that, the America250PA Mobile Unit truck will begin visiting the region in the spring.
The vehicle is equipped with America250PA video games, exhibits, selfie stations and prizes. From the outside, scanning QR codes will launch augmented reality features.
In Scranton, the Jan. 18 kickoff ceremony is part of the final day of Downtown on Ice. Organizers hope to show off a special ice sculpture to combine the two occasions. It begins at 2:30 p.m. in a tent on Lackawanna County Courthouse Square.
The Luzerne County kickoff ceremony is at the county courthouse at 6 p.m.
As for other regional opening ceremonies on Jan. 18, they are scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Schuylkill County Courthouse, Pottsville; and 4 p.m. at the Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce in Tunkhannock.
So far, the commission’s most visible efforts are the painted Liberty Bell replicas and Liberty Tree plantings going on around the state.
One of Coleman’s main goals is to create formative, inspirational memories for the children who will create the next stage of Pennsylvania history and celebrate the Tricentennial in 2076.
Coleman, who wasn’t born yet in 1976, says people love to share their Bicentennial memories. She hears about marching in parades, painting fire hydrants red, white and blue, and one family that installed a red, white and blue patriotic shag rug.
America250PA’s website is America250pa.org.
Separate from the state commission’s work, the Luzerne County Historical Society is about to open its America250 display.
“Celebrating the Semi-Quincentennial: 250 Years of History” will open at the society’s museum on South Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre, on Jan. 30 and continue for the rest of 2026.
Featuring more than 700 items from the society’s collection, the display highlights county mines, places of worship, sports, breweries, military units and much more. The artifacts range in time from the early 1600s through the current day.