The America 250 parade in Cumberland brings together a politically diverse town

CUMBERLAND, Md. – Like many small towns in Appalachia, this place is a liberal blue spec in a conservative red state. So I wanted to see if this little house could pull off an “America 250” show that would really bring the whole community together.

Amid the fanfare, flags and patriotic T-shirts, I caught up with Melinda Kelleher, the Main Street manager who was heavily involved in the planning. When I started to ask if that was a challenge in these times of separation, I couldn’t even finish my sentence before he answered, “Yes.”

But the city rose to the challenge, Kelleher told me.

“We wanted an event that would really bring the community together,” he said, adding that the city of Cumberland has been revitalized. “We have opened 30 new stores.”

Kelleher said the Thursday and Saturday night events in the summer are meant to bring not only locals, but also tourists from all over America, and the beautiful mountain town is definitely worth the trip.

There was a real and appropriate pride in his voice as we looked out into the crowd, which included a 70-year-old man named Al Fieldstein, a former civil servant and accomplished historian, I discovered.

Al told me that “President Benjamin Harrison walked this route for Allegheny County’s 100th anniversary in 1889, and I remember the parades here when I was young, seeing the veterans of World War I,” he said, looking up at the sky. “They’re gone now.”

Near our feet, small children were playing, waiting for the show. I pointed them down and said, “That was you, once.”

I asked him what Cumberland’s place was in this 250-year history of our country, and he said, “We have the first national highway, the first railroad. We’ve always been a crossroads in America.”

But politics was completely absent from the festivities. Terry, a lifelong retiree and committed liberal, told me, “It’s weird about that man in the White House.”

Terry said, “I’m glad to be here, though, I really like this place.”

Participants carry a Cumberland City border banner “America 250” down Baltimore Street during the America 250 parade in downtown Cumberland, Maryland, June 27, 2026. Spectators line both sides of the street as American and Maryland flags lead the procession. (Fox News Digital/David Marcus)

On the other side of politics, I spoke with Jalen Grimm, a student at Frostburg University, who works with Turning Point USA and was set up at a booth along the route.

I asked Grimm what message they were trying to send, and he said, “It’s just that we love America. We have buttons and constitutions in people’s pockets, and some Charlie stuff,” referring to the late TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk.”

I asked him if it’s tricky to start a conservative group in college these days.

“I was nervous at first, but it’s been great,” she said. “We didn’t have many problems.”

Not long after these conversations with the cheering crowd, the distant sounds of drums approached as the announcer marked the start of the show. With bands and military vehicles and the mayor throwing candy on the float, everything felt right, maybe, like it used to.

These kinds of times and this kind of spirit are still prevalent in America, more so than I think most people realize. Often, it’s Main Street executives like Kelleher, far from national prominence, who can connect the needle and bring people together.

These are also small towns like Cumberland and Frostburg that instill their own patriotism, because even the people I meet there who aren’t very proud of their country at the moment, are fiercely proud of their little piece of it.

Jalen Grimm sets up the TPUSA table during the America 250 show in downtown Cumberland, Maryland, on June 27, 2026. (Fox News Digital/David Marcus)

It is very similar to O’s story. Henry, “The Cosmopolitan,” most of which features a cosmopolitan man in a bar, telling the author how foolish it is to be proud of nationality. However, in the end, the dandy ends up in a fist fight when someone insults his hometown in Maine.

The America 250 parade in Cumberland, and the thousands of versions that take place from sea to sea are a real reason for optimism. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has refused to allow his multinational organization to participate in the US State Fair in Washington, but at the local level, things seem to be less complicated.

Do yourself a favor: If you have a small town throwing a shindig on America’s big birthday, go check it out, go be a part of it, forget for a moment the anger and fury of national politics and just listen to the party, eat funnel cake and love America.

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