Submitted by Susan R. Waide
(July 9, 2026) — Residents and visitors are invited to celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary during East Haddam’s signature day-long Semiquincentennial Celebration on Saturday, July 11, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free, and all are welcome to attend. You’re welcome to come dressed as your favorite revolutionary hero/heroine or wear red, white, and blue.
This memorable event begins at the Historic First Church Meeting House, 499 Town Street (Route 151), with live music performed by the Moodus Drum & Fife Corps and the First Company Governor’s Foot Guard Band. Attendees will take part in a public reading of the Declaration of Independence, a community scroll signing, patriotic presentations, exhibits, and activities for all ages.
A bake sale and ice-cold bottled water sale will be hosted by the First Church of Christ, Congregational. Additional food and beverages will be available throughout the day from popular food vendors near the Grange Hall: Emily’s, Momma’s Ice Cream, Oz-N-Bones, and Yankee Cider.
Visitors are strongly encouraged to arrive by 9:30 a.m. to park free (includes handicap parking) at the Municipal Office Building Complex (MOBC), 1 Plains Road in Moodus. Free shuttle buses (including a handicap bus) will transport attendees to the celebration site throughout the day. Overflow parking will be available at the East Haddam Elementary School with Shuttle service. Shuttle service for all parking lots will operate from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
If necessary, handicapped people can be dropped off at the First Church between 9:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Otherwise, please park at the designated off-site parking lots and use the handicap bus. Only service dogs will be permitted at this event.
The reenactment event will take place inside the Meeting House starting at 10:30 a.m. East Haddam First Selectman Todd H. Gelston will welcome attendees and read the Town Proclamation. Dr. Karl P. Stofko, East Haddam’s Municipal Historian, will present a brief history of the Declaration of Independence. Steve Pozzato, Lay Minister of First Church of Christ, Congregational, will then read the Declaration of Independence, followed by patriotic music and a community scroll signing outside.
Featured patriotic concerts will be performed by the renowned Moodus Drum & Fife Corps and historic First Company Governor’s Foot Guard Band. The Moodus Drum & Fife Corps, founded in 1821 in Moodus, Connecticut, is America’s oldest continuously active drum corps. The corps is nationally recognized for preserving the authentic rudimental drumming style, instrumentation, and military tempos of the early nineteenth-century American militia.
The First Company Governor’s Foot Guard Band is the musical component of the First Company Governor’s Foot Guard, which was organized in Hartford in 1771 and remains the oldest continuously serving military organization in the United States.
Throughout the day, visitors may visit activity/exhibit tents sponsored by the American Legion, The East Haddam Historical Society & Museum, East Haddam Land Trust, Friends of the Office of State Archaeology (FOSA), Indigenous Wangunk People Exhibit, Valley Forge Revolutionary War Float (RTC), and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Cemetery Troopers.
Beginning at 12:15 p.m., historic activities for children ages 5–12 (caregiver supervision required) will take place at the Grange Hall. At George Washington’s Spy School, children will learn about colonial espionage while creating invisible ink messages and secret patriotic communications. At Benjamin Franklin’s Print Shop & Post Office, children can block-print their initials or names on envelopes, decorate them with colonial-inspired designs, address them as colonial mail, and seal them using safe, no-flame methods. Continuous screenings of episodes from the educational series Liberty’s Kids will also be available.
At the adjacent Old Town Hall, attendees can become part of history through a full-scale recreation of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall Assembly Room.
At 3:00 p.m., the Historic Revolutionary Cemetery Tour will begin at the cemetery entrance on Town Street. Dr. Karl P. Stofko will lead visitors through the gravesites of East Haddam’s Revolutionary War soldiers and members of the Town Committee.
Following at 4:00 p.m. in the Grange Hall, Kandie Carle, Producing Artistic Director of the East Haddam Stage Company, will present “The Drama of Nathan Hale in Movies and on Stage.”
This event is sponsored by the Town of East Haddam’s USA 250 Celebrations Committee. Additional information is available on the Town website at www.easthaddam.org.
