The Little City is starting to think big for the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026.
Much remains up in the air, including the question of how much funding the City of Falls Church will set aside. At a March Falls Church250 committee meeting, however, officials floated ideas ranging from history talks to planting a remembrance tree.
Commemorative events could kick off at the city’s annual 2025-26 Watch Night celebration set for New Year’s Eve, although planning for that event “is a little up in the air,” said Holly Irwin, the city’s arts and humanities coordinator.
Leaders are conducting community outreach to determine other appropriate events.
Elise Bengston, who heads the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce, said she had been reaching out to musical groups to gauge interest. Lyn Sherlock of the Falls Church chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution told commission members her organization also is happy to help.
“We’re very interested in any activities you have and how we can support them,” Sherlock said.
Council member David Snyder, who serves as the Council’s liaison to the committee, recommended establishing an oral history project that would record the views of current city residents for posterity.
“This community is filled with people who are doing fascinating things,” Snyder said. “I would like to give them an opportunity to talk so that, in the future, people will have a sense of what people were thinking in 2026.”
There also will be coordination with state-level organizing efforts. The state initiative gained momentum on March 23 with an event marking the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech at St. John’s Church in Richmond.
To assist with planning efforts, Falls Church committee members and staff will look to recent efforts coordinating the 75th anniversary of Falls Church’s incorporation as a city.
They also will dig into archives held at Mary Riley Styles Library related to the city’s efforts marking the nation’s bicentennial in 1976.
That year’s centerpiece initiative in Falls Church was restoration of the 19th century Cherry Hill Farmhouse.
Local festivities won’t necessarily end in July 2026. At the meeting, it was noted that there had been a public reading of the Declaration of Independence from the steps of the Falls Church on Sept. 10, 1776.
The church’s most famous parishioner, George Washington, was away leading the troops at the time.
While organizers seem eager for a major commemorative event to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, Irwin gave some words of caution.
“[We] have no idea what that looks like. We don’t even know if we are going to have funding,” she said.
Perhaps signaling the committee plans to move at a brisk pace in determining a theme for the celebration, the body opted to meet again today (Monday), rather than wait for its next planned gathering in May.
Other Northern Virginia jurisdictions already have or are expected to appropriate some funding to mark the birthday celebration.
In Fairfax County, staff has recommended that the Board of Supervisors expend $900,000 for a signature project, on top of other funding to support the county’s commemorative efforts and the group tasked with leading the festivities.
The Arlington County Board has designated the Arlington Historical Society to take the lead in planning events in that community.
