Thousands Flock to Oronoco Bay for Alexandria’s 276th Birthday Bash

Alexandria, VA – The crowds began arriving early. The air hung thick with humidity, heavy thunderstorms dancing around the edges but just narrowly missing Alexandria. Close to 15,000 people came with their blankets and chairs and picnic baskets, filling up every corner of Oronoco Bay Park. The expansive lawn was ringed with vendors selling dinner, beer, and sparkly trinkets.

It was time for the city of Alexandria’s birthday extravaganza. The port city celebrated its 276^th birthday and the USA’s 249^th Saturday July 12 at Oronoco Bay Park, overlooking Old Town’s waterfront.  The city pulls out all the stops for this annual free celebration, offering a night of free cupcakes, concert, and the grand finale, an elaborate fireworks display over the Potomac River. The audience, many of whom traveled from outside the city, came alive and began partying the night away in style.

At precisely 7:30 pm, Alexandria’s Town Crier Dr. Ben Fiore-Walker called the festivities to order in his trademark booming oratory. As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a shimmering reflection on the river behind her, Mayor Alyia Gaskins took to the mic.

“We’ve got the best guest list in all of the country because we’ve got you for this exclusive party,” the mayor intoned. “I can tell you that this next trip around the sun is probably going to be our best year. It’s going to be our best because it’s not going to be defined by crazy and chaos. It’s going to be defined by this. By community, by connections, and by care.”

Standing on the stage with the mayor were Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley and four of her city council colleagues.  After Mayor Gaskin’s remarks, a line began forming for free cupcakes, stretching from one end of the long park to the other. The cupcakes “sold” like hotcakes. Exactly 2508 cupcakes were served up by the mayor and City Council members and were snapped up in 15 minutes.

“I hope to maybe get a little less cupcake on myself,” Sarah Bagley told Zebra. “Last year, I comically ended the day with as much cupcake on my shirt as I distributed, I think.”

The cupcakes were provided by Wegman’s in nearby Carlyle, half of them a donation.

This was Mayor Gaskin’s first time officiating at this annual fiesta. After the last cupcake was snatched up, the mayor took time out to talk to The Zebra.

“The part that excites me most is the diversity of the people who come. We’ve got newborns here all the way to seniors. We’ve got folks who have lived here a long time. Kids who just moved here and folks who don’t even live here but have come and traveled throughout the region. I look out and I see so many different cultures and ethnicities, and I think that is also a part of what makes this celebration so beautiful.”

Diane Ruggiero was standing guard over the cupcake line, making sure the queue moved quickly. She is deputy director of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities. Ruggiero heads up Alexandria’s Office of the Arts and is tasked with producing all the city’s events.

 Ruggiero told Zebra, in addition to the 15,000 at the park, many more line the waterfront from Rivergate City Park to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge to view the fireworks. “I’m glad the weather is beautiful. Thank you to Fairfax County for taking the rain for us so that we could do this today.”

Was Ruggiero holding her breath as she watched the weather reports anxiously? “We hold our breath the whole entire time. It’s not over until it’s over, right?” she told Zebra. “Actually, yesterday was when we found out that we were good to go for today. So really, our bigger days were Wednesday and Thursday. By the time we hit yesterday morning, the threat had subsided considerably and we were good to go.”

Visitors to the event were encouraged to bike, walk, or Metro. Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley is an avid bicyclist who can often be found tooling around town on two wheels. She biked to the party, taking advantage of GO Alex’s free bike/scooter/stroller valet on Fairfax Street.

“What I see more of honestly is people parking blocks away and then walking down, which I think is also a pretty good choice in this situation, to take advantage of the parking and then maybe hop on the trolley and come down to the waterfront,” Bagley told Zebra. “And then take the trolley back to their car. So what I’m expecting to see is some people hopping on bikes at the end of the evening and then other people walking several blocks to a parked car.”

The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra opened the city’s birthday concert with stirring renditions of the National Anthem and America the Beautiful. The ASO then performed Broadway show tunes and classic American patriotic favorites.

The evening reached its crescendo with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, accompanied by loud cannons, followed by a spectacular fireworks show that splashed across the night sky in a brilliant explosion of color.