Courtesy of Visit Alexandria
The City of Alexandria will celebrate its 269th birthday on Saturday, July 7.
From 6 to 10 p.m., Oronoco Bay park at 100 Madison Street near the Potomac River waterfront will be filled with music from the U.S. Navy Band Commodores and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, refreshments, poetry and more.
* For information on fireworks shows in the area on July 4, click here. *
The schedule is as follows. (In the event of inclement weather, fireworks will be moved to Sunday, July 8 at 9:30 p.m. Admission to the birthday celebration is free.
6 p.m. - Performance by U.S. Navy Band Commodores; refreshment sales
7:30 p.m. - Town Crier announces Mayor Allison Silberberg; poetry reading by Wendi R. Kaplan, Poet Laureate; acknowledgements
8 p.m. - Distribution of birthday cake by the mayor and members of City Council
8:30 p.m. - Performance by the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra; Jon Kalbfleisch, Guest Conductor
9:30 p.m. - Grand finale fireworks display, featuring Tchaikovsky's “1812 Overture” with cannon support by the Presidential Salute Battery of the 3d United States Infantry Regiment (“The Old Guard”), Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia
Refreshments such as ice cream, hot dogs, Thai food, pizza, barbeque sandwiches, snow cones and kettle corn will be available for purchase.
Attendees may pack a picnic and bring lawn chairs to the event. Pets (many of whom are terrified of fireworks) should stay home.
For more information on the birthday celebration, click here.
The City of Alexandria is older than the United States itself, which is turning 242 this year.
"During its long history, Alexandria was a tobacco trading post, one of the ten busiest ports in America, a part of the District of Columbia, home to both the largest slave-trading firm in the country and a large free-black community, a Civil War supply center for Union troops, and a street-car suburb for Federal workers. Alexandria was also the hometown of George Washington, Robert E. Lee, Jim Morrison and Mama Cass," according to Alexandria city officials.
Tracts of land were auctioned off in July 1749 to form what is now Alexandria, Virginia. It was named in honor of the early owners of this land area — John Alexander. It was Fairfax County surveyor John West (namesake of West Street) who laid out the 60-acre plots that were auctioned off. George Washington, then just 17-year-old, assisted West in this process.
