On Wednesday evening, June 24th, thousands of visitors from across the nation gathered at The National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the “America is Back” kick off celebration of The Great American State Fair.
Monica Crowley (Chief of Protocol) delivered opening remarks highlighting the significance of the event’s purpose which is creating pride in being an American and uniting the country for the 250th birthday celebration of America.
Crowley described with enthusiasm highlights of the fair including the 50 states and 6 U.S. territories that will have dedicated displays showcasing each’s history, culture, products and services, along with interactive elements. In addition, there will be livestock and agricultural exhibits, movie screenings, daily military flyovers, food, live music, contests, games, a rodeo, and a 100-foot-tall Ferris wheel treating riders to panoramic views of the surrounding DC area and monuments.
Country music singer, Alexis Wilkins, then performed the National Anthem accompanied by the U.S. Marine Band.
The event was high-energy, reminiscent of past rally style events held by President Trump, but with the added excitement of musical performances by the military including the U.S. Marine Band, U.S. Army band and Armed Forces choirs. American Flag placards were handed out to guests to wave and to keep for souvenirs.
Event goers danced and sang to not only patriot songs including ” God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful”; the U.S. Army “rock” band performed “Gloria”, “Sweet Caroline”, “Sweet Home Alabama” and an electric guitar rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner made famous by Jimi Hendrix.
Opera singer Christopher Macchio mesmerized the crowd with the song “Hallelujah” which at the conclusion fighter jets flew over the crowd to their delight. Macchio went on throughout the night to sing other crowd favorites including “God Bless America”, ” Ave Maria” and “Nessun Dorma.”
Several other times during the night, event attendees were thrilled with flyovers by B-2 Stealth Bombers, F-35A Lighting 11 Fighters, and F-16 Vipers that flew right over their heads.
Singer Lee Greenwood signaled President Trump’s arrival to the stage with his iconic song ” God Bless the USA”.
President Trump spoke to the crowd about love of country, bringing America back to greatness, recognizing military greatness, honoring heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice, citing the events planned for the celebration of the 250th birth of the nation, including a fireworks display on the fourth of July that he said would be “ like nothing ever seen” and concluded to tell the crowd this is the beginning of the “golden age of America, we will leave our children nothing but the richest inheritance and most advanced civilization and highest standard of living in human history, the best is yet to come”.
The military band then played Trump’s signature exit song “YMCA” with President Trump doing his “Trump dance” to the delight of the crowd.
Author’s note:
When arriving in DC for this event it was immediately noticeable how clean and pristine the city is. There were flowers everywhere, there were American flags and banners on buildings, in restaurants, along streets. It was very safe walking along at night, a very different vibe from the last time I was in the city.
I spoke to a secret service agent on the evening of the event who told us that the algae problem they had in The Reflecting Pool was due to vandals that traveled from Georgia and dumped a fast-growing strain of algae into the pool, but they had now cleaned it up.
He was correct, we visited the Reflecting Pool the next morning and it is no longer green and is clearing up. National Guard members were visibly stationed on site at the pool to prevent any further vandalism.
I also spoke to several event attendees and people on the street the day following the event and all had the same excitement about how beautiful the city is and how excited they were to be there to witness this remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime experience. One couple was from visiting Iowa with their children.
I noticed at the celebration event there were many young children in attendance with their parents, and many people in their twenties and mid-thirties also at the event.
It was truly an evening to remember with genuine patriotism and love for country in the air.