How Staunton Became America’s Fourth of July Town
How a quiet park, four hometown stars, and 25 summers of free concerts made Staunton the place America comes to celebrate itself.
There is a version of American patriotism manufactured for television and another kind that grows from a specific place, belonging to specific people. Staunton has always had the second kind.
The story starts simply. On a Fourth of July afternoon in 1969, Harold and Don Reid, Phil Balsley, and Lew DeWitt drove through Gypsy Hill Park and found it nearly empty. A few picnickers. Some Frisbees. The city had asked residents to ring a bell at 2 p.m. That was the whole observation.
Four men who had spent years performing for packed arenas came home to find their park quiet on the country’s birthday. So they decided to fix it.
On July 4, 1970, the Statler Brothers walked onto a modest stage in Gypsy Hill Park and played for a crowd of about 2,500 people. They called it “Happy Birthday USA.” Charities, civic organizations, churches, and clubs set up booths. It was simple. It was free. It worked.
What followed was one of the most quietly remarkable runs in American civic life. The crowd grew every year. What had started as a hometown party became a national destination. Families drove in from across the country. At its peak, Happy Birthday USA drew more than 100,000 fans to a city of roughly 25,000 residents. The Statler Brothers rode in the parade, played the evening concert, and stood with their hands over their hearts as Taps played before the fireworks. For 25 straight summers, they never missed a year.
What made this unusual was not the scale. It was the intent. The Statler Brothers could have attached their names to a major city festival or turned the holiday into a high-priced spectacle. They kept bringing it home. That choice reshaped the identity of the town. Staunton was no longer just the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson or a pleasant stop in the Shenandoah Valley. It was the place where America came to celebrate itself.
In 1994, the Statler Brothers performed their last Happy Birthday USA. A volunteer citizens’ committee carried on under the name “America’s Birthday Celebration” through 2017, when that group disbanded. The next chapter came from the next generation. Wil and Langdon Reid, sons of Harold and Don Reid, launched “Happy Birthday America“ in 2018, returning the concert to John Moxie Stadium at Gypsy Hill Park where the original stage had stood. Their country duo, Wilson Fairchild, has headlined the event each Fourth since, bringing guests from their Nashville connections.
This year carries more weight than usual. The 2026 celebration is a two-day Semiquincentennial event marking 250 years of American independence, with Happy Birthday America designated as an official VA250 Commemorative Partner. Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Jimmy Fortune, a former Statler Brother himself, will headline the July 4th concert alongside Wilson Fairchild. Festivities span July 3 and 4, opening Thursday evening with Red Camel Collective, the 2025 IBMA New Artists of the Year, followed by the Semiquincentennial Parade at 10 a.m. on the Fourth. Everything is free.
There is something fitting about a city that spent half a century building a beloved hometown celebration now marking the country’s 250th birthday in the same park, with the same family names on the marquee. The Reids did not inherit a brand. They inherited a value: a community’s best days should be open to everyone.
Harold Reid, who co-founded Happy Birthday USA and never left Staunton through all his years of fame, died in April 2020. He was honored with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Statler Brothers Tribute monument in the Wharf Area Historic District. The park he noticed was too quiet one summer afternoon became the place where four generations of Stauntonians learned what the Fourth of July is supposed to feel like.
This coming weekend, it happens again. Bring a lawn chair.
People & Culture is a new section of The Stauntonian. If there is a story or a person you want us to look into, write to Brad at brad@stauntonian.com.