“Hear Ye, Hear Ye”: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence
Monday, July 4 from 1.00 p.m. – 2.00 p.m.
LOCATION: The Liberty Stage on the Delaney Park Strip, between E and I Street, and between 9th and 10th Avenues, in downtown Anchorage
Independence Day (otherwise known as the Fourth of July) is America’s birthday—the anniversary of our independence in 1776. Everyone is invited, rain or shine, to the Liberty Stage on the Delaney Park Strip for an old-fashioned Independence Day celebration, starting at 1.00 p.m. on Monday, July 4.
Piper Major Ian White of the Crow Creek Pipes and Drums will open the event. David Braun of Anchorage Opera will present a program of songs, including “Fair Harvard,” the Star-Spangled Banner, “Alaska’s Flag,” and God Bless America, accompanied by pianist Debbie Pankow of Central Lutheran Church.
We encourage you to print and bring this Independence Day 2022 Program to sing along! The words to the songs on the program include the original line in Irving Berlin’s God Bless America, “to the gold fields out in Nome”!
The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, is the first organic law of the United States of America in our federal code, and America’s most revered public document. Alaska Senator Josh Revak, Iraq combat veteran, will read the Declaration this year. The ceremony will end with the traditional ringing of a bell two hundred forty-six times, once for each year of American independence, by thirteen volunteers from the audience, one for each state delegation of signatories.
Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science Forrest Nabors of the University of Alaska Anchorage will offer remarks.
This twenty-sixth annual commemoration of Independence Day is sponsored by the Harvard Club of Alaska, with help from the Municipality of Anchorage and Huycke Entertainment.
For more information, email the Master of Ceremonies, Forrest Nabors, at fanabors@alaska.edu.
Come early, bring a picnic, relax on the grass, and listen to what the Fourth of July is really all about!