‘Huge celebration’ in NC for Fourth of July with Raleigh parade, America250 events
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- Raleigh to host July 4 parade; about 700 America250 events statewide.
- The original Halifax Resolves, now on loan, is on display for Halifax Resolves Days.
- How North Carolina is celebrating independence from Britain
North Carolina is going all out to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence from Great Britain.
State officials announced Tuesday that a Fourth of July parade will be held in downtown Raleigh, as well as celebrations across the state.
And a precursor to the Declaration of Independence, North Carolina’s own Halifax Resolves, is on display in Halifax right now. The resolves, passed in the town on April 12, 1776 are on loan from the National Archives.
The resolves were adopted by the Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina and authorized William Hooper, Joseph Hewes and John Penn to vote for independence at the Second Continental Congress. Or as they put it in the resolves, “the delegates for this Colony in the Continental Congress be impowered to concur with the delegates of the other Colonies in declaring independency ....”
Halifax Resolves Day is April 12
The original document, and only copy aside from what is part of the official journal, is on display and will be celebrated during Halifax Resolves Days, April 10-12.
Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, said during a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Halifax Visitors Center that he remembers the celebration around the country’s bicentennial in 1976.
So does Pamela Brewington Cashwell, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the agency leading North Carolina’s America250 celebration.
“Governor, I remember 1976 — dressing up, celebrating America’s bicentennial. It is still very much in my mind. And so we want this year to be the same sort of celebration across North Carolina that people remember 50 years from now. The Halifax Resolves Days is one of our signature events.”
Parade in Raleigh on the Fourth of July
“And then also on July 4, we will have a major event in Raleigh, as I’m sure many communities across the state will be celebrating on July 4 — we are going to have a huge celebration on the Capitol grounds, a big parade, and all kinds of programming, music, food, the whole thing,” she said.
Organizers include Republican Labor Commissioner Luke Farley and a committee at the General Assembly. Farley announced the parade during Tuesday’s Council of State meeting, which was also held in Halifax.
Farley said that for the past few months, the Department of Labor has also been working with the Celebrate America Foundation to organize the parade.
“It’s going to create an opportunity for people across our state to come together, not only to celebrate us as a nation, but to honor North Carolina’s lasting contribution to it,” Farley said Tuesday.
Astronaut Christina Koch invited to be grand marshal of parade
The legislative Semiquincentennial Committee discussed details of the parade on Wednesday. Farley told the committee that the parade could not happen without the legislature. He said the parade will start at 9:30 a.m., likely around the Legislative Building, and the route would include Salisbury Street, Morgan Street and Fayetteville Street, pending city of Raleigh road closures.
Farley said parade organizers will invite astronaut Christina Koch to be the grand marshal. Koch, a graduate of N.C. State University, is currently in space.
“She’s a little tough to reach at the moment, but when she’s back, we intend to invite her. She is a native North Carolinian. She’s from Onslow County, just like me, and she is doing North Carolina proud,” Farley said.
He said the parade would highlight North Carolina’s role in the country’s independence.
“The vision for this parade is to be a grand patriotic celebration of America, the biggest and best parade that we have had to celebrate America since the Bicentennial. We think America deserves nothing less than that for its 250 birthday,” Farley said.
On Tuesday in Halifax, Stein said: “When it counted, North Carolinians came together to dream of a completely new future for this nation, a new vision and dream that did not exist in the world — that people together could govern themselves, and that they didn’t need to have a king to dictate how their government was formed.”
“So let us continue to draw inspiration from their patriotic spirit to bridge across our differences — which are real — but we can chart a better course for this state, together,” he said.
Cashwell said there are about 700 events statewide celebrating America250 this year. “So if you have not gotten excited about A250, now’s the time. There’s still time, and there’s a lot happening.”
A full list of events, including the schedule of this weekend’s Halifax Resolves Days with living history demonstrations, music and building tours, is at america250.nc.gov. Stein said he’ll return to Halifax on Sunday, the anniversary of the day the resolves were passed. The Sunday event ends with a drone light show.
This story was originally published April 8, 2026 at 5:30 AM.
