What needs to be done between now and July 4, 2026
For: National Level / Amercia 250.org / Salute Task Force
☆ Determine what July 4, 2026 will look like ASAP and rent the facility.
America 250Ideas: Host The American State Fair May 29 - July 19, 2026 at Iowa State Fair Grounds SEE DETAILS HERE
Kick off with a Music Festival at Iowa State Fair Grandstand followed by America 250 Sports Competitions at Drake Stadium and other locations in Des Moines and nightly concerts at the Grandstand. Move focus to Avenue of States with daily demos and more concerts. Fireworks and music festival on 4th of July weekend. Then host Innovation and Technology Expo for each state. Close out with Balloon Classic (annual event) and music festival with fireworks/drone show. Check out our ideas for what to do after the American State Fair.
More National Level Support:
☆ Begin Marketing in Airports: Create awareness with signage and America 250 displays of essays and artwork from local participants - work with city and state level organizers on this.
☆ Contact Trucking Companies across the country and provide huge America 250 decals for trucks. "Celebrate America 250" preferably include a website to direct people to get more information. Maybe do the same thing with buses and trains.
☆ Contact Airlines and challenge them to create special America 250 plane designs
☆ Promote collecting America 250 Coins from the US Mint - is it too late for them to request design ideas from the public with winners to get their design on coins?Work with State Commissions
☆ Ask Elon Musk to create a What America Means to Me feature on X for user profiles where people can write their own essay and share with one another. Runs through July 2026. This will encourage participation with this theme among adults
- Could have a "Trending" feature just for the essays, which will give people more motivation to write them
- X could offer $$ prizes for top trending essays
☆ Contact Nonprofits and Clubs across the country and ask them to promote volunteerism as part of the America 250 Service Projects for clubs across the country
☆ Contact National DECA and chapters and ask them to develop America 250 campaigns for the 2025-26 school year promoting the celebration
☆ Work with DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) on Festival of Trees in each state inside large malls for December 2025 with nonprofit trees supporting veterans, active military, homelessness and suicide amongst veterans.
☆ Support State Commissions: Create Establish weekly updates about national efforts and provide marketing resources. Join America 250 Collaborators Group on Facebook
For: State Commission Level
☆ Reserve space at State, Regional, County and local Fairs taking place during 2025 and 2026. Raising awareness at fairs will be a great way to get people in your state engaged with your America 250 activities . Provided that the National level fair will be taking place 7/4/26, doing local/state fairs will be a great place to start working out your presence on a national level.
☆ Create an America 250 logo for your state this needs to be done immediately, you may not have time for a lengthy contest if you want to get your logo that way.
☆ Ask cities and their mayors/public officials to do outreach at the city level WITH THESE IDEAS to get their citizens involved. Provide public spaces for America 250 displays and exhibits based on the work created in their locales including timelines, essays and artwork.
☆ Ask the State Fair, County/Regional Fair and local fair coordinators to create America 250 ribbon categories in 2025 WITH THESE IDEAS for America 250 essays, artwork, photography and food entries. Must be done in 2025, 2026 will be too late for fall fairs.
☆ Work with educators, school districts, higher education institutions to implement curriculum and assignments USING THESE IDEAS to get young people involved. Coordinate with State-level contacts of national clubs to implement America 250 themed contests and debates.
☆ Work with key businesses throughout the state to USING THESE IDEAS to encourage them to add your state's America 250 Logo to the labels of their products, set up scholarships at institutions of higher education.
☆ Reach out to museums, historical societies, civic organizations, and nonprofits to coordinate with educators, schools, and student clubs to exhibit America 250 themed work USING THESE IDEAS.
☆ Communicate with all these stakeholders regularly. Create a newsletter with all their email addresses to keep them informed. Connect with your stakeholders on social media and repost all their activities on your own social media accounts.
☆ Keep your media outlets informed about what is coming up via press releases and tagging them on social media. Encourage media outlets to attend and report on America 250 events throughout your state. Not just the events that elected officials attend, let those outlets know about all events and keep America 250 top of mind!
☆ Work with your local DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) chapter on Festival of Trees set up inside large malls for December 2025 with nonprofit trees supporting veterans, active military, homelessness and suicide amongst veterans. Get in agreement with DAR then work with local malls to get the space to do this - they will likely not charge for this. I have hosted several Festival of Trees events - will post more soon.
☆ Work with local airports for marketing and displays - this is the perfect place to display America 250 themed essays and artwork.
☆ Work with quilters to creeate an America 250 quilt for your state - encourage the creation of quilts to be entered in your own state/county fairs, choose one that will be displayed permanently at your state capital.
For: Local Level
☆ Educators (K-12 & higher education) need to create America 250 curriculum and assignments USING THESE IDEAS to get young people involved.
Check out America250.org Teacher Resources HERE & Educator Guide
☆ Cities should act as central organizers prompting their school districts, local civic clubs and higher education institutions and also provide public spaces for exhibits of the work produced. They should work with fairs and other entities implementing THESE IDEAS
☆ Churches should create service projects in honor of America 250 and challenge members of your church to complete 250 hours between now and 7/4/26. Service project indeas include: litter pick ups, tree plantings, food and clothing drives for local nonprofits, nursing home and orphanage visits, sharing meals with police stations, fire departments and other first responders (especially on holidays), Christmas Caroling
☆ Student/ Youth Clubs across the country should encourage their members to write essays, artwork, presentations and dioramas, create pins and patch opportunities within their clubs and with other clubs. This should include 4-H, Scouting Clubs, Oratory Contests etc.
☆ Local DECA chapters should develop America 250 campaigns for the 2025-26 school year promoting the celebration.
☆ Debate Clubs across the country should create debate topics for the 2025-2026 school year around themes from the Declaration of Independence. SEE DEBATE TOPIC IDEAS