How many millions will America’s 250th birthday party cost? Philly city officials discuss early budget projections

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The Independence Visitor Center hosted a three-hour hearing Monday on how preparations for the U.S. Semiquincentennial are coming along, and the big question revolved around the cost of the events.

Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-Philadelphia) said he’s working with federal authorities, especially for a planned meeting of the United States Congress in Philadelphia.

“The Fourth of July, 2026 can be the epicenter of this nation coming together,” Boyle said. “When the eyes of not only the nation and the world will be right here upon us. Also, at a time when we know there [is a] great divide internally within the United States, but also within our world.”

There have only been two times Congress has met outside Capitol Hill since moving from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. in 1800: once during the Bicentennial in 1976, then in New York City in Federal Hall on the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack.

A question that permeated the hearing was how much money the state and city needed to pay for many of the events, not including the FIFA World Cup, also coming in 2026, and the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which will mostly be paid for by the league.

The World Cup is a separate budget and could alone cost organizers another $100 million since it runs over 40 days.

Questions were asked about how neighborhoods would benefit from the events expected to be mostly held in the Historic District and the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. There were concerns tourists would look to other, more dangerous areas of the city, which some were concerned wouldn’t put the city’s best foot forward.

Councilmember Quetcy Lozada said she’s worried about tourists visiting Kensington to see firsthand what they see on social media about the neighborhood.

“How are we going to ensure that my neighbor’s are not looked upon in a certain way because we’ve not done our due diligence in making sure that we’re able to respond to the 500 to 700 hundred unsheltered population out there?” she said. “The open-air narcotics, the sex work, the, you know, open fires.”

Members of the hospitality and tourism community were also hard-pressed to put a financial number on the celebration, not wanting to commit to something that wouldn’t be able to match the grandeur of expectations.

Members of the Welcome America group, which handles the July 4 celebration, spoke about how they wanted to make the event the biggest ever in the city. Others said the city needed to show itself off to encourage future domestic and international tourism.

Everyone agreed it would take $100 million or more to cover everything planned for the nation’s 250th birthday.

There were also some big projections about how much revenue the events would generate in tourist dollars for Philadelphia, with “billion” thrown around as an estimate of what tourists could spend in 2026.