Philly will host 52 parties to celebrate 52 historic firsts in 2026

Philadelphia is home to a lot of American firsts.

First Slinky. First ice cream soda. First Thanksgiving Day Parade. First Mummer.

Totally us.

First Zoo. First penitentiary. First children’s hospital. First flower show. First African American Methodist Episcopal congregation. First American flag. First Mother’s Day.

All us.

Oh, and the first and only Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.

So why not celebrate all these firsts and so many more? That’s the idea behind the Philadelphia Historic District’s 250th Committee’s “52 Weeks of Firsts” in 2026. The yearlong, citywide celebration — to be announced Tuesday at a National Constitution Center news conference — will honor America’s 250th birthday, also known as the Semiquincentennial.

“We’re going to celebrate Philadelphia firsts,” said Vince Stango, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the National Constitution Center, and head of the Historic District 250th Committee, a partnership of 21 cultural and historical institutions. “We’re going to celebrate the people, the places, just that Philadelphia ingenuity.”

Every week, from January 2026 through December 2026, Philly will celebrate a historic first somewhere across the city. Each milestone will be marked with a festive event held at the site — or somewhere representing it — with speakers, giveaways, and legacy plantings, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Stango said.

Every site will receive a #1 sculpture made of high density foam and decorated specifically for each venue (the Historic District 250th Committee is also planning a scavenger hunt to find all of the #1 sculptures).

While the aforementioned Philly Firsts were teased on Tuesday, a calendar, digital map, and complete list, along with a secondary list of other Philadelphia Firsts, will be available later this year at visitphilly.com/52firsts.

“We did our research,” said Stango, adding that the hard part was deciding which ones made the cut.

After all, he said, you could do a whole category of first from all the things Benjamin Franklin created in Philadelphia. Like the first volunteer fire department (1736), first hospital (1751), and first learned society (1743.)

There’s the first cheesesteak, of course, prepared at Pat and Harry Olivieri’s Italian Market hot dog stand in the early 1930s.

And then there’s lesser known or sometimes overlooked firsts. Like the first American hot air balloon ride, which departed from the old Walnut Street Jail in 1793, and the first organized baseball team, the Olympic Town Ball Club, founded at a North Philly diamond in 1831.

There’s also a few fun Philly specific firsts. Like the first Philadelphia theater to show a motion picture: the B.F. Keiths Bijou Theater, which once stood at Eighth and Race Streets, where the old police Roundhouse sits now, and which showed brief silent experiments of the moving image.

“We have more than 52 firsts right now,” said Stango.

The Historic District 250th Committee also announced plans for its annual 2025 Red, White, & Blue To-Do celebration.

Scheduled for July 2, 2025, the day the Second Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, the Red, White, & Blue To-Do Pomp & Parade will weave through the Historic District and feature 13 floats, drill teams, and cultural dance troupes, and kick off with a flag raising at Betsy Ross’ house.