It was a national party and everyone at the time was feeling very patriotic in the years leading up to the bicentennial. There were coins, new currency, stamps, everyone had some bicentennial outfit. I also once read it was the single biggest day in the spread of the then unknown HIV virus.
Today, I don’t think I know anyone who can tell you the 250th is called the semiquincentennial (my phone doesn’t even know it’s a word).
by 08_West
47 Comments
I remember, it was crazy. This year, nothing. Every empire has an end.
That “Din-o-mite” shirt is amazing
This was back when you didn’t feel weird about people with a lot of American flags.
I remember “Bicentennial Moments” the networks used to show.
The energy of the 70s was truly something else. These photos capture that sense of community so perfectly.
And I was underwater somewhere in the Pacific Ocean for most of it.
I’m a bicentennial baby. Got a special stamp on my birth certificate for it.
All the girls in my class painted the fire hydrants in our little town red, white, and blue. We were juniors in high school.
I was born in 1978. People still had their posters and plaques from the bicentennial up on the walls in the 80’s
My idea for a Westworld would be either a seaside beach town or a mountain town close to a large river or lake and its always 1976.
I was dehydrated and in the hospital. My grandma died. But yes, it was a big deal. With the current division and constant devisiveness, I don’t know that younger folks can even imagine.
It sure was!! Happy to say that I grew up in the Washington, DC area – the events were amazing and the fireworks that year were absolutely stunning. And we had a president in office whom people could look up to, and who really appreciated the values and citizens of America.
The fire hydrants were painted as little patriots in my city for the bicentennial.
It was also Colorado’s centennial! I was a little young to remember but we had some memorabilia around the house.
I was 6 and got my first 2 wheel bicycle. It was red, white and blue.
They were also celebrating the Apollo – Soyuz link up, I remember getting merch at the Kennedy Space Center.
The movie “Nashville” was a dramatic, sometimes comic movie about it. One song sticks in my mind: “We must be doing something right, to last Two Hundred Years!” Also “He’s got a tape deck in his tractor and he plays it while he plows his daddy’s land! Oh, the loving of a cowboy is a hard thing to understand…!”
I still have my certificate from the Freedom Train.
President Gerald Ford sent a letter to every HS graduate of the class of ’76 on official White House stationery.
I was a little kid and I barely remember anything from that time, but I remember that!
There were **SO MANY** Bicentennial branded products… I inherited a Bicentenial Limited Edition Shotgun. It’s still pristine in the box. But there were ton’s of other special bicentennial edtion products everywhere.
I remember it. It was so great!
It was a huge deal in’76. The 250th has sucked so far. Patriotism and pride in our nation is very low right now. I was hoping it would be a lot of fun, so very disappointed.
I was 10 that year. All the fire hydrants were repainted to be colonists in the army. Bicentennial minute commercials on tv.
The “Freedom train” rolled through Wichita, Kansas, and our whole class walked through it, looking at all of the displays inside depicting our history up to then
250 would have been quite a celebration if we had survived.
I was there. It seemed like every product had red, white, and blue packaging. We had bicentennial beer, napkins, pencils, bread, soda pop, etc……
I wish I was excited about this 250 year thing but it’s really just depressing.
I had a mother & grandmother who both crocheted, incessantly. I have boxes of afghans. I’m not the only family member either.
I’ve seen several articles/events regarding the semiquincentennial… but I live in philly lol
I feel National Parks are the only good thing left..down the hill we go..
I still have a bunch of those quarters, too
this kind of stuff always makes me feel like i missed out on a vibe i can’t really recreate… like i remember going through a phase where i was obsessed with old photos and trying to imagine what it actually felt like in those moments, and it always seemed a little warmer and more “real” than now. makes me wonder if people back then felt the same way about their past or if i’m just romanticizing it too much 😭
The Spirit of ‘76!!
It really was a Really Big Deal. And it’s kinda sad that this year’s upcoming 250th is barely getting any notice at all, because of the political climate and no one being in any mood to celebrate who’s in government right now.
My brother had red, white and blue striped bell bottoms.
The 250th anniversary of The United States is going to suck.
Probably a combination of “how did we manage to make it 250 years” and “doubt we make it to 300 at this rate.”
It sucks because there’s not a lot to be proud of as an American right now. A country ran by criminals, pedophiles, and an authoritarian state deciding to bomb other countries to distract and impose some sort of delusional divine providence not seen since the crusades. Witch hunts not seen since the Spanish Inquisition. The whole world used to at least respect us. Now we have nobody thanks to the dude in office who has decided to fundamentally ruin our country.
I took acid at GoldenGate Park.
yeah must’ve been a lot to celebrate with affordable housing, pensions, cheap college and a non pedo dipshit president– Thanks for everything.
I get very, very sad whenever I think about the 250th this summer and just how different and more fucked it is. Nobody gives one shit, and we are super-divided.
The Bicentennial year is one of my favorite memories…so much great culture and such a great feel to just be having a big feel-good festival after Watergate and Viet Nam had finally wrapped up. Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, Steve Miller and Afternoon Delight on the radio, flags and fun, kitschy Americana everywhere. Seemed like everybody just wanted to chill the fuck out and party.
So good.
So
As late as the 2000s, older ladies would smile sweetly and say “aww, a Bicentennial baby!” after learning I was born in ’76. It must’ve been a hell of a party.
I’m from Toronto, we drove down to Philadelphia at Easter. It was awesome…what a time….
I won’t drop any negative comments here.
I would love to have a celebration like that for 250, but right now there’s only one event I can think of that’ll get me out dancing in the streets to celebrate America again.
Don’t forget what you’re celebrating, and that’s the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn’t want to pay their taxes!
I graduated HS in “76” and our tassels were red white and blue.
It’s really depressing that the 250th just sucks. Could have been a great milestone.