To Find the Heart of America’s 250 Celebrations, Get Out of Washington

Some 6 million people found vantage points in New York and New Jersey to see the parade of tall ships in New York Harbor on July 4, 1976. Bettmann/Getty Images

Chris O’Brien was 9 years old when he watched a parade of 16 tall ships in New York Harbor for America’s 200th birthday on his grandparents’ TV. Now a veteran of the Coast Guard, he’s been planning for more than 6 years to bring them back for America’s 250th anniversary.

“Tall ships have such a noble mission,” he says of the traditionally rigged sailing ships, which serve around the world as training vessels and unofficial embassies. “They train the Navy cadets, making strong leaders for their navies, and they also have a diplomatic exchange mission and a cultural exchange mission. That is something that really resonates at this time.”

O’Brien’s group, Sail4th 250, is trying to bring the bicentennial’s red-white-and-blue vibes back. Thanks to the organization’s efforts, a fleet of tall ships from more than 20 nations will sail into New York Harbor on July 4, with opportunities for people to climb aboard. Some of those ships also visited ports in New Orleans, Norfolk and Baltimore and will continue on to Boston.

It’s one of the more spectacular efforts among many by ordinary Americans to celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial — and President Donald Trump has nothing to do with it.