The City of Manassas celebrates its 150th anniversary on Saturday with an afternoon and evening of music, food, history, and fireworks.
The celebration runs from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Dean Park, and the program includes local bands; food trucks; a rock climbing wall; a moon bounce; a “touch a truck” area, where you can get up close with fire trucks, police cars, dump trucks, and more; tours of the Manassas Industrial School; storytelling; and games including axe throwing, balloon popping and others. The fireworks are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.
Residents of Manassas will tell their stories on a video series shown continuously in the Boys and Girls Club at 9501 Dean Park Ln. After Saturday, the videos will be broadcast on Comcast channel 23 and Verizon channel 38.
At 3 p.m., City of Manassas officials will bury a time capsule, to be opened in 50 years.
If you need parking, the city advises using the buses that will pick up attendees at Baldwin Elementary School on the Prince William Street side and take them into Historic Downtown Manassas.
Admission is free; food trucks will be selling food. The event is rain or shine, except for the fireworks; the city said it will make a determination about the weather Saturday afternoon.
You can find the full schedule and list of food vendors for Manassas’ 150th anniversary on the city’s website.
What is now Manassas was originally an area known as Tudor Hall, according to the city’s website. During the Civil War it was known as Manassas Junction. Two major battles of the war were fought there. The Virginia General Assembly granted a charter to create a town government April 2, 1873. It became an independent city in 1975.
Feature image courtesy Refrina/stock.adobe.com
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