Communities gear up for America250 celebration
May 18, 2026 05:01PM ● By Becky Ginos
An America250 banner hangs on a pole along Main Street in Bountiful. Several cities are making plans to celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary. Photo courtesy Kate Bradshaw
BOUNTIFUL—As America celebrates 250 years with festivities across the country here at home several cities are hosting their own celebrations. Bountiful City has a whole lineup of activities to take part in the nationwide celebration.
“Like most cities in the state we’re participating in the America250 events,” said Bountiful Mayor Kate Bradshaw. “We’ve organized a committee and we’re working on a number of different areas – celebration, service, health and wellness and education. So we can kind of cover all aspects of our history and heritage to be proud of.”
Bountiful has kind of been in the second half of July with Handcart Days, she said. “We’re going to have some events closer to the 4th of July that we haven’t had in the past.”
On the 4th of July the city will be doing a concert in the park with the Bountiful Phiharmonia, Bradshaw said. “It will be a patriotic concert. We’ll also be doing a kids’ art yard in conjunction with the Bountiful Davis Arts Center who will be putting that on. We’ll also be focusing on the classic hot dogs and pie.”
So that will be a new event the city has generally not had, she said. “Those will be at Bountiful City Park.”
Bradshaw said on July 2 in conjunction with the Farmers Market, that is traditionally on that same Thursday, they'll be having a kids patriotic bike parade with opportunities to make their bike look fun and patriotic. “The parade starts on 100 East and finishes at the park for games and prizes.”
There will be the regular Farmers Market, she said. “You’ll have food options and things like that.”
One of the big things the city is working on and as a state is on July 5 there’ll be neighborhood potlucks, Bradshaw said. “These are things we’re asking neighborhoods to help organize and do. It’s an opportunity for neighbors to just get together and spend time together and focus on community.”
There’ll be some toolkits for people to use to invite their neighbors, she said. “You can find all kinds of different ways. You could do the traditional barbecue or different takes on people’s backgrounds.”
From a health and wellness perspective the subcommittee has organized a bunch of different events, Bradshaw said. “One event they're organizing that’ll be the week of the 4th is June 30. It’s specifically for senior citizen residents. It’s special concerts and activities like yoga and Tai Chi in the Town Square park from 9 – 11 a.m.”
The committee has also arranged 12 different guided hikes and bike rides through the trail system starting in June and going through the end of August, she said. “It’s exploring all of our different trailheads and both new trails and the longtime existing trails. Both bike and hike options for people who want to go on a guided experience and they can log those miles as part of a Red, White and Move campaign.”
The education committee is working on education opportunities, said Bradshaw. “Historical figures for instance will be walking around during the chalk art and are available to talk about different parts of American history.”
There’s an education tool for families, she said. “There are book reading lists this summer for different age groups that you could tap into that explore different parts of U.S. history.”
There is a new calendar on the Bountiful 250 page, said Bradshaw. “We’re also pushing a lot of them out on the city’s social media and a lot of graphics we’ve put together specific to different events. We would encourage everyone to follow the city’s social media on Facebook or Instagram so that you can see all the things.”
The city website also has a calendar and then people can click on different events so that’ll give them a little more detail, she said. “What I’m excited about is we already have a lot of traditional summer events. There’s Coats for Kids, Chalk Art Festival, Summerfest and the Farmers Market. The idea was to take some of those events and add twists or connect groups that are both doing good things but wouldn’t naturally connect or might not know about each other.”
For more information about Bountiful’s America250 efforts go to https://www.bountifulutah.gov/America250.
