Bicentennial

[RedAngie]

Any oldtimers remember July 4, 1976 and all the hoopla surrounding it? It seemed every product came out with a Bicentennial theme, every TV show did a Bicentennial episode, etc. Even my church that Sunday had a Bicentennial Mass. (I don’t remember what made it any different than any other Sunday.)

Some flashbacks.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I wasn't born for another 22 days.

 

[tvguy]

Yup. Took my cousin from Canada to see the Freedom Train when it came to town.

 

[RedAngie]

 

[bgirldeb]

I was born in the fall of 1975, and mom and dad had trouble finding non- bicentennial baby items.

 

[OKW8297]

Yup. I remember! Didnt they try to ring the Liberty Bell?

 

[amcnj]

My high school had one of those project graduation type events every year for the graduating class. Everyone was sure the theme that year was going to be bicentennial related. But the parents surprised everyone and did a Paris cafe one instead. I can’t remember now if the general consensus was relief or disappointment!

 

[disneychrista]

I was only 4 but I feel like I had a vague memory of it. Nothing specific. More just that I knew it was a big deal.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I turned six that year. I do remember it being a big deal.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I recall it well, Ang. Bicentennial everything. I was 32 16 days later.

State St and The River. (not sure about that ham clot )

 

[RedAngie]

I also remember some rather dubious claims being made.

The Liberty Bell reported an attendance of 76,000 that week. (Average was about 40K)

Another historic site that averaged 1000 per day claimed 1776 visited on July 4.

I don’t think the Phillies played at home that weekend, but the last game before or first game after July 4 had an attendance of 41,776.

Even a strip club got in on the act. The featured stripper was one Bette Z. Ross. “She comes Gloriously Forth…..without a stitch.”

 

[Marrila]

I went to a local parade that year. Bands, homemade floats, the bicentennial was a big deal in our town.

 

[barkley]

i remember it well-entering my sophmore year in high school. i went to disneyland that summer and i still have my official disney bicentennial button with the ribbon still intact (mine looks a bit more worn than the image below)- i believe i will pull it out to wear in '26 when we celebrate the nation's semiquincentennail

 

[georgina]

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Simplicity was still making a similar pattern in 2005, I made my DD a blue and white dress like that for her 5th grade colonial day Presentation.

I remember the bicentennial, but not Elvis.

 

[jdb in AZ]

DH and I got married in 1976 and a lot of our wedding gifts were bicentennial themed (like salt and pepper shakers shaped like Liberty Bells.) We spent two hours of our first married July 4th in a post-fireworks traffic jam of epic proportions.

 

[Disney Ella]

One of the networks aired a "Bicentennial Minute" every evening for a year. A celebrity would discuss a key bicentennial moment in history.

 

[focusondisney]

We had a family picnic at my parent’s house every year back then, grandparents, aunts, uncles, lots of cousins. There was a National bell ringing, with churches & local bell ringing. I don’t remember if it was at noon or 1pm. There were small Liberty Bell replicas sold somewhere as part of it. The whole extended family had these small bells & we all rang them at the appointed time. My mom recently passed away & we’re working on clearing out her house. I’m sure we’ll find a few of those bells in there somewhere.

I remember all the other Bicentennial themed items around. I was 19, engaged to my DH that year. Burger King had Bicentennial themed glasses & a pitcher. We got a set & started off with them in our kitchen after we got married. The glasses all broke, but I still have that pitcher in a cupboard. Haven’t used it in probably 30 years, but there it sits.

Hard to believe it will be the 250 year celebration in only 4 years.

 

[RedAngie]

Yup. I remember! Didnt they try to ring the Liberty Bell?

Yes, I think it was tapped lightly.

 

[RedAngie]

One of the networks aired a "Bicentennial Minute" every evening for a year. A celebrity would discuss a key bicentennial moment in history.

I think it was CBS because I remember CBS stars like Lucille Ball and Mary Tyler Moore on those Bicentennial Minutes. I think they were broadcast at the end of Walter Cronkite CBS Evening News.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I went to WDW for the first time over spring break in 1976. They had a bicentennial themed parade, and the characters wore colonial garb throughout the park (only MK back then).

I was in Junior High and my school made a time capsule that year. We included bicentennial quarters and silver dollars, which I still have a few of somewhere.

One of the networks aired a "Bicentennial Minute" every evening for a year. A celebrity would discuss a key bicentennial moment in history.

Yes, I remember that, and it was also when the “America Rock” cartoons came out, as part of the “Schoolhouse Rock” series for kids, with topics like “I’m just a bill on Capitol Hill”.

I was also the proud owner of this transistor radio.