Just Weeks Into a Summer of Celebration, D.C. Residents Are Already Feeling Fatigue

This weekend’s July Fourth celebration on the National Mall is going to be huge, officials say. There will be hours of music, including a performance by the Joint Armed Forces Orchestra. Military flyovers will dominate the skies. President Donald Trump will make a speech. And the party will end with more than 850,000 fireworks lighting up the night.

It’s going to be an extravaganza unlike anything the District has ever seen, they say. But many local residents don’t find themselves in a festive mood.

For the people who live in the District, the celebration will close roads and impact public transportation schedules across the city. The flyovers will shut down flights out of Reagan National Airport for a combined 15 hours. Mayor Muriel Bowser even asked local parents to think twice about bringing kids to the fireworks show, which is scheduled to begin around 11 p.m.

This weekend’s event is just one part of a summer full of large-scale festivities in the city. Earlier this month, Trump hosted a UFC fight on the White House lawn. The Great American State Fair opened on the Mall June 25 and runs through July 10. In August, an IndyCar race will weave through downtown. But for some locals, the celebrations are nothing more than a headache.

Northwest resident Doug Honeycutt said he enjoyed watching last week’s military flyover to mark the opening of the fair. But he had already seen a flyover earlier in the month before the UFC fight, and he’s not looking forward to seeing several more.

“It’s the overlords trying to impress the minions,” Honeycutt told NOTUS. “I’m like, do it once, fine. But you don’t need to keep doing it over and over again.”

Ward 8’s Anacostia Park is being prepped for a fireworks show that will be concurrent with the Mall display. Shamirah Muhammad/NOTUS

Disengaged

Celebratory as they may be, this summer’s events have already been tinged by controversy. The UFC event was quickly overshadowed by one fighter’s insults against former first lady Michelle Obama. At the fair, Confederate flag images were found on display at the North Carolina booth. With a Trump speech on the docket, the July Fourth event is shaping up to be something closer to a rally.

Especially at a time when the District is navigating an increasingly fraught relationship with the Trump administration, it has been hard for some residents to separate the headlines from the fun.

“I think that people from D.C. who are opposed to what’s happening or who see it as a gaudy, over-the-top spectacle of propaganda — which it is — do not want to engage with it, and I think I am someone who just wants to know,” said Navi, a local artist who recently visited the Great American State Fair. “I want to know what’s going on in there, I want to know if it’s up to snuff.”

Navi said their love of pageantry and entertainment led them to the fair. They said navigating the increased security downtown was not easy and that when they finally made it to the fair they found it “kind of boring.”

“The only thing that’s popping is the line for the Ferris wheel,” they said.

They do not plan to return to the Mall for July Fourth.

“July Fourth is way more fun everywhere else in the city than it is at the main Mall,” they said. “That’s how it’s always been. That’s how it will always be.”

When asked how local residents are responding to the semiquincentennial celebration’s increasingly partisan tone, Bowser told NOTUS she understands there are a lot of opinions about the events. She said some may find it helpful to compare it to what they remembered from the bicentennial in 1976.

“I don’t remember the bicentennial well, but I have heard from a lot of people who remember that fondly,” she said. “I think what people will do is they will compare the experiences we have had. We’ve been working with both groups who have been planning for the nation’s 250th. We hope that people find events that speak to them, and that they can support.”

Southwest D.C. resident Ben Curran is the co-chair of SW Strong!, an emergency preparedness task force in a neighborhood that borders the National Mall. He was young when America celebrated its 200th birthday during the Carter administration, but he has good memories of the event and emphasized that the context of this year’s celebration feels totally different.

Curran, who has joined neighbors in protesting the National Guard and what he sees as the increased federal presence in D.C., said that political strife has dampened the feeling of joy he remembers from 1976. He wishes this summer’s celebrations didn’t feel so complicated.

“Even though people like me, and I think many others, we may be upset and angry and protest, but we’re just as patriotic as anybody else,” he said.

At a rally opposite the Great American State Fair, there was live crocheting of an American flag featuring 51 stars. Shamirah Muhammad/NOTUS

Making the most

About 5 miles south of the Mall at Anacostia Park, barricades were set up last week in preparation for another celebration. The National Park Service plans to host a fireworks show at the riverfront park in Ward 8, set to run concurrently with the National Mall display.

Kimberly White, a Maryland resident who comes to the park to paint, said she doesn’t plan on joining any celebrations this summer but hopes the city can benefit economically.

“I think it’ll be great to bring money into the city, I’m not going to lie about that,” White said. “I think it’ll bring a lot of tourists into the city. But at the same time, I feel like they’re just trying to blindside us about the things that are going on in the background.”

Instead of turning their backs, some local activists are trying to use this summer’s events to bring attention to local issues. Last weekend, just around the corner from the Great American State Fair, a coalition of D.C. groups held a rally across from the National Air and Space Museum.

Elyssa Feder, executive director of Rising Organizers, wanted to “showcase D.C.’s culture and democracy at a time when both those things are under threat.”

“Particularly because there are these big national events on the Mall that don’t center the fact that they are in our city, a place that doesn’t have the same rights as the people who we’re happy to host,” she said.

The small rally featured an art exhibit, performances from local go-go bands and the D.C. Labor Chorus. There was also live crocheting of an American flag featuring 51 stars. Feder was hoping the rally helped tourists learn about the lack of representation in the District.

“I think the broader point is that this administration has treated D.C. like its personal playground,” she said. “Both in terms of putting on events that do not serve the American people and certainly do not serve [residents]. And also thinking that they are able to act with both impunity and without any care for the people who actually live here.”