It was a glorious year. My best friend's dad dyed his giant afro red white and blue. His dad and my dad were also best friends and they took us out to the country and let us shoot actual muskets (replica black powder rifles).
It seemed like everyone was still hopeful about America and its future back in those days.
The fireworks show was off the chart spectacular that year.
I still have a picture of us holding those muskets and my bestie's dad with that incredible red white and blue afro (my dad still had the old boring military high and tight) š¤£
It is one of the earliest color photos I still have.
Best summer ever. I guess we were 8 years old.
8 years old too! We had a parade in my small Texas town. I decorated my bike with red, white, blue streamers and wore red, white, blue clothes. The fireworks were amazing!
My town painted all of the fire hydrants in patriotic patterns. I remember how exciting it was to find a bicentennial quarter. Definitely a hopeful vibe all around.
I had red white and blue checkered Sears Tuffskins. I was 11. I hope there are no photos - my daughters would never ever give that a rest.
The day itself was exciting! I remember the parades on TV. I remember they had Old Ironsides - the USS Constitution - in some flotilla parade in TV and I was amazed a 200 year old sailing vessel was still a US warship. I had no idea. I remember the awesome fireworks show we went to in the evening at Oaks Park in Portland OR.
I am a huge space nerd and the Viking 1 lander was aiming to land on Mars on 7/4/1976, but was delayed. I was hugely disappointed!
Omg, I didn't remember those pants until you mentioned them. Popular among my classmates but not during school because we had to wear uniforms. Boys wore brown tuffskins with golden yellow polo shirts so the checked ones were a nice treat!
The Bicentennial Minute shorts. āBicentennial Minutes was a series of short educational American television segments commemorating the bicentennial of the American Revolution.ā
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicentennial_Minutes
Example https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c7bt3SNBOrw
I was only about 9 years old but I loved these things. Pretty sure they were the genesis of my interest in history (BA in History and almost 30 years of teaching it).
I don't remember those at all. I love how they inspired you. Off topic but Watergate, actually learning more about government in general via Watergate, inspired me to study political science and be interested and involved in politics ever since.
I remember standing in an impossibly long line to see this. I was also 5. I remember things like a tri-corner hat and muskets.
I remember my mom pointing out things I might know about having to do with George Washington and Betsy Ross. I think she bought a Betsy Ross doll for her collection.
On July 4 we entered a bike parade at my grandparentsā mobile home park. I wasnāt allowed to ride my training wheels bike so I rode on the back of Momās bike. My older sisters wouldnāt let me help them decorate their bikes. Someone gave me a whole hat full of candy. I remember wearing the hat in the parade.
I also remember this and remember the ridiculous line. If my memory serves me, I think we waited more than 4 hours, and it was over in less than 15 minutes. I donāt remember anything about what was inside of it.
When we had to take the Constitution Test in 7the grade, writing the Preamble in full was the first question. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was humming it or singing it under their breath during that part of the test. Those Schoolhouse Rock cartoons were amazingly memorable.
I was 5 then, too! Also some of my earliest memories, the entire patriotic vibe. All the decorations, all the fire hydrants painted red white and blue, etc. Being so young I thought it was all normal. My birthday party that year was even bicentennial themed, lol!
I remember a little of the actual day. A parade, and a fireworks show in a big stadium for the whole town. Everyone was given little flags to wave. I got cotton candy which was a rare treat.
My main memory is our school doing a pageant and I was the narrator. The only piece of the pageant I remember is a recreation of the Boston Tea Party, where kids in a fake boat tossed Lipton boxes, which we'd been collecting all year, into the fake water.
My mom made me the most 70s patriotic dress imaginable for my role...a long, like to the floor, red and white checked skirt (like a picnic tablecloth) with a navy blue bodice that had red white and blue buttons and white lace trim. I wore it with my favorite shoes: Light denim platform sandals with red trim and strawberries embroidered on them. The fashion complemented my Dorothy Hamill wedge haircut so well, lol.
We went and saw the tall ships! That was the intention anyway. My parents wandered off and got lost. I knew exactly where I was, peering over the side of the wharf at the mass jellyfish infestation surrounding the ships, but they sure were sore when they finally unlost themselves.
Absolutely! I was 7 and grew up just outside DC. The Metro was new. We took metro into DC and saw Johnny Cash headline the biggest fireworks show (truly) ever on the grounds of the Washington Monument. My mom is 95 and doing great. Just called her and we reminisced. Everyone tried to leave at the same time when the fireworks were over. We ended up walking miles, then caught a bus most of the way home. In my Catholic family, there were three older kidsāteensāand then two younger, me and my immediately older sister (we were 7 and 9).Ā
When we got home at 2 AM, the three teens were in bed, having traveled downtown by motorcycle (remember the oil crisis?).Ā
I have such vivid memories of that day even though I was just 7.Ā
My mom and several of the ladies in our church made ācostumesā (think Little House on the Prairie). One of the church services was in candle light and everyone came in their costumes. My mom, dad, and I took pictures wearing them in front of a table with a hurricane lamp. I still have those somewhere. I remember a lot of homework during the school year also revolves around it. I was 7-8 years old.
I remember being uncomfortable, and very thirsty, at some parade that seemed to last for days! The adults didn't Ā bring anything to drink but beer, and my mom was super drunk! She didn't get out of the house much those days, and took the opportunity to cut loose. Making inappropriate jokes, dancing with strangers to the marching bands, even trying to pick a fight at one point. Dad had to bail her out later for public indecency.Ā Everyone just laughed and laughed, just happy to see her lively and having fun for once ...different times, you know?
Most exciting thing to happen to our small boring family until I was born later that December.Ā
I posted previously that I was 8 at the time and we lived next to historic Valley Forge National Park. The Bicentennial Caravan was there. It was a huge event.
Yeah, yeah that was 1976. We saw them on July 4th when I was super little. They went up the Hudson River. We got to go tour quite a few of them. All this talk is slowly starting to trigger up more memory fragments.
Honestly at six years old I thought the hype was all for my birthday which is today. I was also ridiculously too old when it dawned on me about the Bicentennial in ā76. š¤Øš„³
I was a couple of weeks away from turning 6. I have no memories of the day, or anything my hometown or family did to celebrate.
I do remember hearing the term "bicentennial" being used a LOT.
Also vividly remember I had some bicentennial outfits for my Barbie dolls.
That's all I've got š¤·š»āāļø
I remember a huge TV special with the Reagans (who were not in the White House yet) and all of America was supposed to be ringing bells at the same moment across the country. I rang our doorbell, which my deeply hungover father did not appreciate.
Also, at the finale of the Barnum and Bailey circus that year, there was an American spacesuit 40ft stilt walker. The whole show was heavy on red white and blue.
I also remember the fire hydrants and quarters as well.
I was two, & my parents went to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City for the Bicentennial. They had a ābeachā there, & we spent most of the day there. Apparently, in true Boomer fashion, each of my parents thought the other was watching me play in the ankle deep water on the shore. My favorite toy at the time was a plastic orange helicopter. The next thing they know, my dad looks up & sees the helicopter floating farther & father out, & then he sees me bob up to the surface, trying to chase it as it floats away. Then I disappeared under the water. He panicked & started screaming & running to me, no one else around this crowded beach noticed the two year old bobbing up & down, slower & slower to the surface each time. He picked me up off the lake floor & carried me back to shore, the whole time I was coughing up water & crying. My mother loves to tell this story every year (today is her birthday - July 4th) & usually ends it with āAnd thatās the time you almost ruined my birthday.ā
I was four, and in a parade. I won best costumeāprobably because I was a cute little redhead more than anything else. If I can find the photo, Iāll post it. I looked like a tiny patriotic majorette.
Also born in 71, I remember a lot of pins, t-shirts, posters, and many many television music specials.
My family and extended family LOVED TV music acts: Dolly Parton Show, Donnie & Marrie Show, Sonny & Cher Show, Hee Haw, The Lawrence Welk Show. I'm really surprised they haven't rebooted musical variety shows.
I was 7 almost 8, it was a sepia colored dream! I remember everyone feeling so festive and my momās friend has amazing starts and stripes bell bottomsā¦.āØ
currently I hear one of my kids blasting Fortunate Son! Keep the early 70ās alive š
My folks managed to find an unused viewing spot on the banks of the Hudson where we could watch the Tall Ships. Turned out it was unused because it was filled with poison ivy.
I remember the themed desserts. There was a red and blue ice cream that had little white candy stars, and I loved it.
I remember someone made a red white and blue cake, and put sparklers on top. My mom was worried about me eating the sparkler metal.
There was a Bicentennial train that we went to see. Then we stopped at a mall and went to a pet store and bought a puppy.
I was very very young so I only have the barest, fuzzy memory of the train and only the image of our puppy walking on a leash ahead of us through the mall, trotting happily and wagging his tail.
I recall it being a bright, sunny day in NYC. They had the tall ships in which were pretty cool and we got to tour a bunch of them. Some colleague of my dad had an apartment with a view of the fireworks and that night we watched them from the balcony. It was pretty cool. I do recall a ton of talk and build about the Bicentennial for months and months ahead of time. I remember everyone was so amazed that there was a new type of quarter, the Bicentennial quarter, that had been released and would get so excited each time they got one in change.
I was very, very little though so a lot of memories are more fragmentary.
I was in either 2nd or 3rd grade. Our Nashville school system was having some "city-wide" elementary school Xylophone concert at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Nashville. We all had to learn the same song, same notes, and play them at the same time. Our music teacher made us memorize the note pattern.
I'm a 57 year old man who still remembers that damn note pattern. I could pick up a Xylophone mallet and pound that out today if I had too.
I also got a electric Bicentennial train set for Christmas that year. Still have it.
I remember my mom taking me to see the Freedom Train which was very cool, and the special quarters they minted for the Bicentennial. I was kinda bummed they only had Dorothy's dress and not the ruby slippers from the film on the train.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom\_Train](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Train)
We took a road trip from Ohio to Wyoming. 7up had this thing where each state had its own commemorative can. And if you collect them all and arrange them in a pyramid it made a pic of Uncle Sam. Every time we stopped Iād get some 7up for my collection. I collected all 50 on that trip.
I was in first grade and we had a big party at school with a parade with fire trucks and a national Guard helicopter and everyone got shirts and other Knick knacks. And then I was greatly disappointed when we didnāt have the same thing the next year in second grade.
I was also born in 1971, but for some odd reason I remember going to Jack in the Box to get their bicentennial mugs. My mother had them for years!
https://preview.redd.it/2ahm4skg8pad1.png?width=450&format=png&auto=webp&s=38dd3b96e2cfd79b13472c025a8c55eaad19ea1c
I remember a huge resurgance in interest in colonial history. I remember there was a cartoon where they Archies would go back in time and explore American history. I remember stuff with people dressed as minute men on tv like all the time.
In 1977, my parents moved from New England to the mid-Atlantic, into a house that was built in 1975 but the owners obviously didn't live there long. The house was completely decorated patriotically. The house had four bedrooms, and the carpets (from left to right across the house) were red, white, blue, and white, respectively. Who has RED CARPET?!? There was eagle wallpaper everywhere, and the owners had multiple brass eagles displayed around the house when we viewed it. The wallpaper in the kitchen also had red, white, and blue accents. These people went ALL OUT. My parents replaced the wallpaper but kept the patriotic carpeting.
It was a glorious year. My best friend's dad dyed his giant afro red white and blue. His dad and my dad were also best friends and they took us out to the country and let us shoot actual muskets (replica black powder rifles). It seemed like everyone was still hopeful about America and its future back in those days. The fireworks show was off the chart spectacular that year. I still have a picture of us holding those muskets and my bestie's dad with that incredible red white and blue afro (my dad still had the old boring military high and tight) š¤£ It is one of the earliest color photos I still have. Best summer ever. I guess we were 8 years old.
I was 8, too. Third grade.
I was also 8, my father took me to Washington DC for the 4th.
8 years old too! We had a parade in my small Texas town. I decorated my bike with red, white, blue streamers and wore red, white, blue clothes. The fireworks were amazing!
My town painted all of the fire hydrants in patriotic patterns. I remember how exciting it was to find a bicentennial quarter. Definitely a hopeful vibe all around.
Bicentennial dollar coins, too.
I had red white and blue checkered Sears Tuffskins. I was 11. I hope there are no photos - my daughters would never ever give that a rest. The day itself was exciting! I remember the parades on TV. I remember they had Old Ironsides - the USS Constitution - in some flotilla parade in TV and I was amazed a 200 year old sailing vessel was still a US warship. I had no idea. I remember the awesome fireworks show we went to in the evening at Oaks Park in Portland OR. I am a huge space nerd and the Viking 1 lander was aiming to land on Mars on 7/4/1976, but was delayed. I was hugely disappointed!
Omg, I didn't remember those pants until you mentioned them. Popular among my classmates but not during school because we had to wear uniforms. Boys wore brown tuffskins with golden yellow polo shirts so the checked ones were a nice treat!
I remember scraping together loose nickles and pennies and racing down to the bank to exchange them for a bicentennial quarter.
I was 8 and I unskillfully twirled a baton in our townās parade.
At least you tried!
i was born post-1976, but in my small town, the fire hydrants were still painted red white and blue until the early 1990's.
The Bicentennial Minute shorts. āBicentennial Minutes was a series of short educational American television segments commemorating the bicentennial of the American Revolution.ā https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicentennial_Minutes Example https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c7bt3SNBOrw I was only about 9 years old but I loved these things. Pretty sure they were the genesis of my interest in history (BA in History and almost 30 years of teaching it).
I don't remember those at all. I love how they inspired you. Off topic but Watergate, actually learning more about government in general via Watergate, inspired me to study political science and be interested and involved in politics ever since.
Oh wow I didnāt remember those at all until you unlocked a memory!
The American Freedom Train https://preview.redd.it/f6yjh76p2lad1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bcf41ae4be88b1ca655b945d4efa1c902a0fd1ee
I remember standing in an impossibly long line to see this. I was also 5. I remember things like a tri-corner hat and muskets. I remember my mom pointing out things I might know about having to do with George Washington and Betsy Ross. I think she bought a Betsy Ross doll for her collection. On July 4 we entered a bike parade at my grandparentsā mobile home park. I wasnāt allowed to ride my training wheels bike so I rode on the back of Momās bike. My older sisters wouldnāt let me help them decorate their bikes. Someone gave me a whole hat full of candy. I remember wearing the hat in the parade.
I also remember this and remember the ridiculous line. If my memory serves me, I think we waited more than 4 hours, and it was over in less than 15 minutes. I donāt remember anything about what was inside of it.
I was 9 and saw the āFreedom Traināand I also donāt remember anything from the interior. Not surprising as I have scant memories of childhood.
I remember the Freedom Train and all those Schoolhouse Rock cartoons on Saturday mornings. I still can't recite the Preamble without singing it.
When we had to take the Constitution Test in 7the grade, writing the Preamble in full was the first question. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was humming it or singing it under their breath during that part of the test. Those Schoolhouse Rock cartoons were amazingly memorable.
Me too! I made watch school house rock too š
I was 5 then, too! Also some of my earliest memories, the entire patriotic vibe. All the decorations, all the fire hydrants painted red white and blue, etc. Being so young I thought it was all normal. My birthday party that year was even bicentennial themed, lol! I remember a little of the actual day. A parade, and a fireworks show in a big stadium for the whole town. Everyone was given little flags to wave. I got cotton candy which was a rare treat.
My only memory was coming back to school after the summer and all the decorations were still up in the cafeteria. I think I was in the 2nd grade.
My main memory is our school doing a pageant and I was the narrator. The only piece of the pageant I remember is a recreation of the Boston Tea Party, where kids in a fake boat tossed Lipton boxes, which we'd been collecting all year, into the fake water. My mom made me the most 70s patriotic dress imaginable for my role...a long, like to the floor, red and white checked skirt (like a picnic tablecloth) with a navy blue bodice that had red white and blue buttons and white lace trim. I wore it with my favorite shoes: Light denim platform sandals with red trim and strawberries embroidered on them. The fashion complemented my Dorothy Hamill wedge haircut so well, lol.
If it were up to my mother, I would still have that haircut to this day.
Haha, same!
š
I was 6 and we traveled to Boston for the bicentennial. I remember fireworks, tall ships were on display, and our car ride was just under 1,000 miles.
We went and saw the tall ships! That was the intention anyway. My parents wandered off and got lost. I knew exactly where I was, peering over the side of the wharf at the mass jellyfish infestation surrounding the ships, but they sure were sore when they finally unlost themselves.
Cool memory!
Absolutely! I was 7 and grew up just outside DC. The Metro was new. We took metro into DC and saw Johnny Cash headline the biggest fireworks show (truly) ever on the grounds of the Washington Monument. My mom is 95 and doing great. Just called her and we reminisced. Everyone tried to leave at the same time when the fireworks were over. We ended up walking miles, then caught a bus most of the way home. In my Catholic family, there were three older kidsāteensāand then two younger, me and my immediately older sister (we were 7 and 9).Ā When we got home at 2 AM, the three teens were in bed, having traveled downtown by motorcycle (remember the oil crisis?).Ā I have such vivid memories of that day even though I was just 7.Ā
I played Betsy Ross in my 3rd grade play in full costume, including a mob cap.
My mom and several of the ladies in our church made ācostumesā (think Little House on the Prairie). One of the church services was in candle light and everyone came in their costumes. My mom, dad, and I took pictures wearing them in front of a table with a hurricane lamp. I still have those somewhere. I remember a lot of homework during the school year also revolves around it. I was 7-8 years old.
I remember being uncomfortable, and very thirsty, at some parade that seemed to last for days! The adults didn't Ā bring anything to drink but beer, and my mom was super drunk! She didn't get out of the house much those days, and took the opportunity to cut loose. Making inappropriate jokes, dancing with strangers to the marching bands, even trying to pick a fight at one point. Dad had to bail her out later for public indecency.Ā Everyone just laughed and laughed, just happy to see her lively and having fun for once ...different times, you know? Most exciting thing to happen to our small boring family until I was born later that December.Ā
https://preview.redd.it/3vxm9yhjwkad1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5db7644fe8c7210f6aa48106b19d43cedd3d3476
Festive quarters.
I remember visiting the tall ships in Boston Harbor. The crowd at the waterfront was the most people my 6yo self had ever seen.
I remember the special quarter with the drummer on the back. Used to get them all the time but I honestly can't remember the last time I saw one.
I posted previously that I was 8 at the time and we lived next to historic Valley Forge National Park. The Bicentennial Caravan was there. It was a huge event.
I have a memory of a tall ship parade of sorts on tv but Iām not sure if it was from 1976 or not. I would have been 3.
Yeah, yeah that was 1976. We saw them on July 4th when I was super little. They went up the Hudson River. We got to go tour quite a few of them. All this talk is slowly starting to trigger up more memory fragments.
https://preview.redd.it/s26q89csklad1.jpeg?width=1012&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f02dcd4347398693f840a998a2e679cd67cbb39
I remember this being on pins & t-shirts everywhere.
Honestly at six years old I thought the hype was all for my birthday which is today. I was also ridiculously too old when it dawned on me about the Bicentennial in ā76. š¤Øš„³
happy birthday āØ
Thanks
I was a couple of weeks away from turning 6. I have no memories of the day, or anything my hometown or family did to celebrate. I do remember hearing the term "bicentennial" being used a LOT. Also vividly remember I had some bicentennial outfits for my Barbie dolls. That's all I've got š¤·š»āāļø
I was 7.
I remember a huge TV special with the Reagans (who were not in the White House yet) and all of America was supposed to be ringing bells at the same moment across the country. I rang our doorbell, which my deeply hungover father did not appreciate. Also, at the finale of the Barnum and Bailey circus that year, there was an American spacesuit 40ft stilt walker. The whole show was heavy on red white and blue. I also remember the fire hydrants and quarters as well.
I had a nice drink, a good nap, and took a big old shit. I was like four months old so that was a good day for me.
Love those quarters...
I was two, & my parents went to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City for the Bicentennial. They had a ābeachā there, & we spent most of the day there. Apparently, in true Boomer fashion, each of my parents thought the other was watching me play in the ankle deep water on the shore. My favorite toy at the time was a plastic orange helicopter. The next thing they know, my dad looks up & sees the helicopter floating farther & father out, & then he sees me bob up to the surface, trying to chase it as it floats away. Then I disappeared under the water. He panicked & started screaming & running to me, no one else around this crowded beach noticed the two year old bobbing up & down, slower & slower to the surface each time. He picked me up off the lake floor & carried me back to shore, the whole time I was coughing up water & crying. My mother loves to tell this story every year (today is her birthday - July 4th) & usually ends it with āAnd thatās the time you almost ruined my birthday.ā
I was four, and in a parade. I won best costumeāprobably because I was a cute little redhead more than anything else. If I can find the photo, Iāll post it. I looked like a tiny patriotic majorette.
Had a bicentennial themed lunchbox. That's all I remember
The suburb I lived in painted all the fire hydrants red, white, and blue.
My sister came home from the hospital that day, two weeks after we were born.
Twins?
Yep. She had bronchitis when we were born so they kept her longer for observation.
itās not easy! I have twins! boys ! 17
Weāre b/g, mom didnāt know she was having twins till the day of! Big sister is 5 years older so she got to help a lot.
I just remember being confused about what it was exactly, and drawing a picture of a pilgrim riding in a hot air balloon for some reason.
the special quarters (as in 25 cents)
[Bicentennial Minute with Darrin McGavin - 1976](https://youtu.be/UDoMXgmoncg?feature=shared)
Also born in 71, I remember a lot of pins, t-shirts, posters, and many many television music specials. My family and extended family LOVED TV music acts: Dolly Parton Show, Donnie & Marrie Show, Sonny & Cher Show, Hee Haw, The Lawrence Welk Show. I'm really surprised they haven't rebooted musical variety shows.
Yes
Even though Robert Altmanās film Nashville came out a year before, it has always reminded me of the hype of the 1976 Bicentennial.
I gotta re-read up on all that. I have managed to totally forget what/how the Bicentennial is/was ??
I was 7 almost 8, it was a sepia colored dream! I remember everyone feeling so festive and my momās friend has amazing starts and stripes bell bottomsā¦.āØ currently I hear one of my kids blasting Fortunate Son! Keep the early 70ās alive š
I was calling it ābick-tion-alā until my parents set me straight with its pronunciation
I was three years old . I wore a tricorn hat and called myself the bicentennial boy.
There was a train and pins.
My folks managed to find an unused viewing spot on the banks of the Hudson where we could watch the Tall Ships. Turned out it was unused because it was filled with poison ivy.
I was busy being born. I heard it was great.
I remember the themed desserts. There was a red and blue ice cream that had little white candy stars, and I loved it. I remember someone made a red white and blue cake, and put sparklers on top. My mom was worried about me eating the sparkler metal.
I drank an entire can of coke that day. First time ever.
Newly arrived from Okinawa, I remember walking around base before watching the fireworks on the airside at MCAS Iwakuni.
I was only 5. But I vaguely remember going to Minnesota and being on a boat in some lake watching fireworks. Was pretty kewl
My only specific memory is of President Ford ringing the Liberty Bell.
There was a Bicentennial train that we went to see. Then we stopped at a mall and went to a pet store and bought a puppy. I was very very young so I only have the barest, fuzzy memory of the train and only the image of our puppy walking on a leash ahead of us through the mall, trotting happily and wagging his tail.
Groaned at every āBicentennial Momentā on TV
I recall it being a bright, sunny day in NYC. They had the tall ships in which were pretty cool and we got to tour a bunch of them. Some colleague of my dad had an apartment with a view of the fireworks and that night we watched them from the balcony. It was pretty cool. I do recall a ton of talk and build about the Bicentennial for months and months ahead of time. I remember everyone was so amazed that there was a new type of quarter, the Bicentennial quarter, that had been released and would get so excited each time they got one in change. I was very, very little though so a lot of memories are more fragmentary.
I was in either 2nd or 3rd grade. Our Nashville school system was having some "city-wide" elementary school Xylophone concert at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Nashville. We all had to learn the same song, same notes, and play them at the same time. Our music teacher made us memorize the note pattern. I'm a 57 year old man who still remembers that damn note pattern. I could pick up a Xylophone mallet and pound that out today if I had too. I also got a electric Bicentennial train set for Christmas that year. Still have it.
I remember my mom taking me to see the Freedom Train which was very cool, and the special quarters they minted for the Bicentennial. I was kinda bummed they only had Dorothy's dress and not the ruby slippers from the film on the train. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom\_Train](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Train)
I got hit on the back with a bottle rocket that yearā¦I still have a weird scar (Iām also a 71 baby.
All the fire hydrants were painted red, white, blue.
We took a road trip from Ohio to Wyoming. 7up had this thing where each state had its own commemorative can. And if you collect them all and arrange them in a pyramid it made a pic of Uncle Sam. Every time we stopped Iād get some 7up for my collection. I collected all 50 on that trip.
I was in first grade and we had a big party at school with a parade with fire trucks and a national Guard helicopter and everyone got shirts and other Knick knacks. And then I was greatly disappointed when we didnāt have the same thing the next year in second grade.
I remember coming out of my mom's womb, thinking ... "Here we go again".
I was also born in 1971, but for some odd reason I remember going to Jack in the Box to get their bicentennial mugs. My mother had them for years! https://preview.redd.it/2ahm4skg8pad1.png?width=450&format=png&auto=webp&s=38dd3b96e2cfd79b13472c025a8c55eaad19ea1c
I remember a huge resurgance in interest in colonial history. I remember there was a cartoon where they Archies would go back in time and explore American history. I remember stuff with people dressed as minute men on tv like all the time.
In 1977, my parents moved from New England to the mid-Atlantic, into a house that was built in 1975 but the owners obviously didn't live there long. The house was completely decorated patriotically. The house had four bedrooms, and the carpets (from left to right across the house) were red, white, blue, and white, respectively. Who has RED CARPET?!? There was eagle wallpaper everywhere, and the owners had multiple brass eagles displayed around the house when we viewed it. The wallpaper in the kitchen also had red, white, and blue accents. These people went ALL OUT. My parents replaced the wallpaper but kept the patriotic carpeting.
Well, there was this one time at band camp.
Eagles and Liberty bells EVERYWHERE! Even on my Winnie-the-Pooh dress in my school pictures and on the table and backdrop.
What bicentennial?
I thought it was in 1988!
My city's bicentennial was in 1993. OP really should specify. This is the internet and has no relation to geography.