Two marquee PBS specials will celebrate America at 250

PBS will help Americans celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary over the Fourth of July weekend with live broadcasts of two marquee events.

Celebrations kick off July 3 with the 46th consecutive broadcast of A Capitol Fourth. Held on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, A Capitol Fourth: 250th Weekend Celebration will air live on PBS and livestream from 8–9:30 p.m. Eastern time. The country’s longest-running live national TV special for Independence Day, A Capital Fourth has been PBS’ top-rated prime-time program for the past 15 years. 

This year’s event will feature performances from Patti LaBelle, Kool and the Gang, Chicago, Angel Blue, Carly Pearce and the cast of the Broadway musical Just in Time, which chronicles the life of singer Bobby Darin. Loren Allred will sing in appearances at Mount Vernon throughout the night, and country music star Trace Adkins will debut a new song, “American Made.”

The lineup also features a number of Olympians and Paralympians, a tribute to the Artemis II astronauts, introductions by Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna, and members of the military showcasing period uniforms from 1776 to the present. The night will be rounded out with a huge fireworks display backed by the National Symphony Orchestra.

“It’ll be A Capitol Fourth on steroids,” says Michael Colbert, producer of A Capital Fourth, which his father Jerry launched in 1981. “It’s going to be our biggest show ever.”

The night of the Fourth, America Made in Virginia: 250 Years Together will broadcast on PBS and stream on PBS.org and the PBS app from 8–10 p.m. ET. It will feature a special greeting from Ken Burns, narration by actor Richard Thomas, and musical performances by Michael Feinstein, Ryan Speedo Green, Kelli O’Hara, Adrienne Warren and Judy Collins.

Actors will read stirring excerpts from the Declaration of Independence and perform vignettes related to American independence from the lives of Thomas Jefferson, Martha Washington and James Lafayette. Abraham Lincoln will even make an appearance as “The Star-Spangled Banner” plays. 

The show will have “pomp, pageantry, poetry and drama,” says William Schermerhorn, the experienced artistic director behind America Made in Virginia. Before joining the project in January 2025, Schermerhorn spent 34 years directing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Four hundred flying synchronized drones will create images of the American flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and other American symbols. And of course, fireworks are also on the agenda.

“We want these intimate, heartwarming moments that all add up to an epic event,” Schermerhorn says. 

The ‘opening ceremony’

Broadcasts by commercial television networks observing the occasion won’t be as educational and informative as public media’s programming, says Carly Fiorina, EP of America Made in Virginia. Since 2023, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and presidential candidate has served as the national honorary chair of the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission, which organized the holiday special.

The commercial broadcasts “are wonderful shows,” Fiorina said. “But you don’t learn what we’re celebrating, why we’re celebrating, the story behind all of it. America Made in Virginia: 250 Years Together is the only show in the nation that is really going to educate people on what we are celebrating and why we celebrate the independence of this nation on July 4.”

For Fiorina, PBS was the only home for America Made in Virginia because both the event and public media aim to “educate, engage, inspire and entertain.”

Colbert adds that it’s important for something as special as a celebration of the nation’s freedom to reach the whole country, including smaller and rural markets, while being free of commercials. “Public television is the right place to remember all those who’ve given their lives for the country and to celebrate all the good of the country,” he says. 

While A Capitol Fourth usually airs on July 4, Colbert decided to stage the show a day earlier this year, as he predicts most people will hold their own events on the Fourth. “We see ourselves as the opening ceremony of the Olympics,” Colbert says, adding that he’s particularly excited the show will be the only special on TV that night. 

Ultimately, Colbert says he doesn’t just feel responsible for “continuing the tradition” his late father started. He paraphrases John Adams, a Founding Father and the second president of the United States, who said that Independence Day should always be celebrated “with pomp and parade, games, sports, guns, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other forevermore.” 

Not only are millions expected to watch at home, but hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend the live concert, according to Colbert. It will also be broadcast to service members abroad via the American Forces Network. 

Inspiring ‘civic renewal’

America Made in Virginia: 250 Years Together also aims to inspire patriotic feelings in viewers, wherever they’re from. At the same time, the VA250 commission wanted to showcase “how Virginia influenced America, how basically America was made in Virginia, and how there is no America without Virginia,” says Fiorina. “After all, Washington, D.C., didn’t exist 250 years ago.”

The special seeks to tell the whole story of the country’s founding, says Fiorina. Organizers reached out to civil rights leaders and “tribal chiefs from across America” with the ambition of inspiring a “season of civic renewal,” she says. 

The show’s theme links the country’s past, present and future, says Schermerhorn. Burns will even explain how America’s challenges 250 years ago aren’t that different from those it faces today.

“Early on, someone from PBS told me that they saw this show as almost being the sequel to Ken Burns’ American Revolution, because that showed us what the past was [and] how it worked, and hopefully with our show we can talk about the present and where we are going as a country into the future,” says Schermerhorn.