Happy Fourth of July! America 250 section inside

By McClatchy Media

July 4, 2026 12:00 AM

LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, NEVADA - JUNE 30: A 300-foot-wide by 150-foot-tall American flag is suspended across the Hoover Dam on June 30, 2026 in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada. Beginning on Memorial Day, Nevada, Arizona and the federal Bureau of Reclamation partnered with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to hang the 45,000-square-foot, 2,000-pound flag and illuminate it and the surrounding canyon walls with a patriotic lighting display nightly at dusk, pending high winds, through July 4, 2026, to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) — A 300-foot-wide by 150-foot-tall American flag is suspended across the Hoover Dam on June 30 in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada. Beginning on Memorial Day, Nevada, Arizona and the federal Bureau of Reclamation partnered with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to hang the 45,000-square-foot, 2,000-pound flag and illuminate it and the surrounding canyon walls with a patriotic lighting display nightly at dusk, pending high winds, through July 4 to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. Ethan Miller Getty Images

Today, we commemorate the day in 1776 when the Continental Congress declared that the 13 original American colonies were no longer subject to British rule and were now united and independent states. In honor of the 250th anniversary of that occasion, see our America 250 special section in today’s Edition. Happy Fourth!

This story was originally published July 4, 2026 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Happy Fourth of July! America 250 section inside."

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