America turns 250 this year, and the party is coming to Summerfest! “America’s Block Party” is a countrywide event happening July 3-4, organized by America250, a Congress-approved organization with a bipartisan board of advisors and a long list of corporate sponsors.
They should not be confused with the “Freedom 250,” the White House-created organization that canceled a concert series after several of the performers (Milli Vanilla, Brett Michaels, Young MC, and The Commodores, among others) dropped out over concerns of the event being too partisan.
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America250’s website says the Block Party event will be “the largest synchronized Fourth of July celebration in U.S. history,” with most of that mass coming from community events around the country, from barbeque grill-outs to festivals. An “America’s Block Party” app can help people find which event is closest to them.
In addition to these smaller, networked parties, there are five “official host locations” with larger scale events. There’s a “Giving 4th Broadcast Benefit Show” at Times Square, a concert at Memorial Coliseum in LA, and festivals in Charleston and Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The fifth location is right here in Milwaukee, and will feature Summerfest as “a platform to gather fans to celebrate America’s 250,” according to Summerfest’s press office.
Looking at the event on America250’s website, you might get the impression that a far-ranging selection of musicians – everyone from Jelly Roll to Soul Asylum – were pulled together for a unique showcase. But it’s really just another day at Summerfest.
The acts advertised by America250 are pulled from across the festival’s ten or so stages and overall, aren’t really connected to the country’s big day. You can catch Jelly Roll (with Tyler Hubbard and Three 6 Mafia) at 5pm headlining the American Family Insurance Amphitheater. Soul Asylum and Milwaukee’s BoDeans at 5:30 and 9:30pm, respectively, on the Generac stage, and so on. Other performances on various stages for the 4th include Sam Barber, KT Turnstall, The Temper Trap, Kerry King, Joywave, Jonah Kagan, Sad Boy Saturday, and many more.
It would appear America250 is simply acknowledging that the diverse line-up of music, celebrations, and fireworks puts Summerfest on the map as a natural place for Americans to celebrate our Semiquincentennial. Still, if you don’t have any plans for the day, the Big Gig is as good a place as any to commemorate the event.
Summerfest says they’ll also be celebrating the 4th with “a fireworks show scheduled for 9:30pm, themed activities throughout the day, and a limited co-branded gate giveaway for the first 5,000 patrons.”
