You know how those nostalgic movies like Tom Sawyer and The Music Man often feature idyllic, turn-of-the-century scenes of Fourth-of-July celebrations? They’re sun-drenched settings with brass bands, ice cream, bustling town squares (complete with gazebos), kids playing lawn games, neighbors visiting with neighbors, and plenty of red, white and blue bunting.
That is exactly what it felt like to be part of the Webster Arboretum’s huge America’s 250th Celebration last Wednesday, June 24. It had all those elements, and many more, including kids’ crafts, food trucks, a duck race, musket firing, honor guard, story telling, a dance party, dulcimers, a barbershop chorus, and guided tours of the Arboretum grounds. It was even sun-drenched. The whole afternoon had a classic Americana vibe, a wonderful celebration of our country’s rich history, while also highlighting our area’s own cultural and educational groups.
Organizers estimate that more than 1000 community members attended the four-hour celebration, and that’s on top of the representatives from the two dozen community groups which had set up information tables.
It all took a ton of planning, and reflected the efforts of a dedicated team of volunteers.
Wendy Mendola from the Arboretum wrote,
Jason Poole from the Webster Library, Sharon Pratt from the Webster Museum, Lisa Schlonski from Lala’s and Ginny Nguyen all worked with the board members of The Webster Arboretum to bring this event to fruition. Our planning began months ago and we met regularly to bring our community together to celebrate America’s 250th and bring the Webster Arboretum to the forefront. We would like to thank the volunteers, sponsors and the members of the community for making this event a rocking success.
This was our first BIG event and we feel it went very well. We brought the community together for some good family fun.
I spent the entire afternoon at the event. For much of the time I was hanging out at our Women’s Club of Webster display, but I made sure to regularly walk around the grounds, stopping by all of the information tables, chatting with the organization representatives, listening to the bands and watching the kids laughing and having fun. It was delightful to see entire families out in the field playing Cornhole together, or at the craft table painting flower pots. Watching Michael Grenier — decked out in his all-wool Revolutionary War uniform — whip a batch of young, raw recruits into shape was absolutely charming. Standing face-to-snout with a huge snapping turtle was less so.
It was all extremely well organized and so much fun, the perfect way to celebrate our nation’s birthday. Congratulations to everyone who helped pull it together, and many thanks to all of the organizations who set up tables and community members who came out to have some good old-fashioned family fun. It’s really a shame we can’t do it all again next year.
… or can we?
A thousand thank yous to Joe Altieri for most of these photos! Here’s a gallery with a few more:
* * *
(posted 6/28/2026)
email me at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram and Threads (@missyblog)
You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Subscribe” link on the right side of this page (or all the way at the bottom of the page if you’re on your phone).
webster on the web 
Leave a comment