Mark your calendar for Saturday, July 25. Confluence is throwing America a birthday party, and it is an all-day affair.
The Confluence 250 celebration takes over the town square from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., organized by the Confluence USA 250 Committee. It has been months in the making, and the schedule is packed.
The day starts, as the best days here do, with the Community Market in the Town Park. From there it just keeps building.
On the schedule: a hot dog eating contest, an apple pie baking contest, food trucks, craft vendors, live bands through the day, and kids activities including a bounce house in the park. Wear red, white and blue if you have it.
Over at the Confluence Creative Arts Center, the theater campers will stage their musical, Peter and Wendy, with performances at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Then there is the giant. A 12-foot George Washington parade puppet, built by Jody Best and helpers at the Arts Center, will march down Williams Street to the bandstand. Jody and company first made the puppet in 2023, out of a cardboard armature and papier-mache, for the town’s 150th anniversary. Who operates it remains, officially, a mystery. Everyone is invited to fall in behind General Washington and join the procession down to the Point.
That is where the night ends, at the Point, with fireworks over the Youghiogheny at dark. Addison-based Little Big Shots will send them up from the west side of town. If you have wondered where the Fourth of July fireworks went this year, here is your answer. Confluence saved them for the 250th.
The USA 250 Committee is still taking contributions to help cover the fireworks. Checks can be made out to the USA 250 Committee, care of Somerset Trust Company, 612 Logan Place, Confluence, PA 15424.
And if a full Saturday is not enough, the weekend has a second act. On Sunday, July 26, the Mt. Davis Challenge road race rolls out of Confluence and over the highest point in Pennsylvania. The riders start early, so the town will be busy both days.
A celebration like this does not come together on its own. Our thanks go to the Borough, to the USA 250 Committee for months of planning, to Somerset Trust Company, to the Confluence Creative Arts Center, and to every business that chipped in to make the day happen. Confluence takes care of Confluence. This Saturday is proof.
Two hundred and fifty years is worth celebrating, and there is no better place to do it than right here. Bring the family. Bring an appetite. We will see you on the square.