By Matt de Simone
The Virginia American Revolution 250 Commemoration (VA250) celebrations officially commenced last Saturday in Roanoke as Virginians and Americans gathered to celebrate the reading of the Fincastle Resolutions at the O. Winston Link Museum.
The document, signed on January 20, 1775, was in response to and in support of the Continental Congress adopting their own association to boycott British goods in protest of the Intolerable Acts. Last Saturday, Jeff Briggs of the Fincastle Company, and North Cross students Maldah Ahmad, Safwan Ahmad, Madelyn Bibby, and Matthew Bibby gave a live reading of the the document during the event.
The VA250 Commission also debuted its new interactive and immersive mobile museum experience following a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Attendees were then invited to visit the museum to learn more about the history of Virginia. This museum on wheels will soon travel to local schools, museums, events, and fairs in every region in the state. Inside, visitors can learn more about Virginia’s history including key events, leadership, the official motto of the United States “E Pluribus Unum,” and more.
Joining the readers were WDBJ7’s Senior Reporter Joe Dashiell who served as master of ceremonies, Roanoke History Museum President William Hopkins, Jr., Virginia Delegate and VA250 Chairman Terry Austin, and keynote speaker and former presidential candidate Carly Florina.
“Why does all this matter?” Florina asked everyone during her speech. “Why do we huddle here together to talk about the past? Because if we do not know who we are, if we do not know who we come from, where and what we come from, and how we came to be then we do not know who we are. We know this at our core. It is why we gather around family dinner tables and talk about the people who came before us.
“If we do not know our history, then we do not why we are Americans… The only nation created not on territories, or ethnicity, or on religion, but on ideas and ideals. We need to know who we are and where we come from in order to understand why we are Americans. It is important not just for our families and not just for our communities but for our nation. America, our nation, was started here in Virginia, fueled here, fought here, and finished here. Its greatest leaders were born on Virginian soil. Its most sacred ideals were shaped in our hills and valleys and its stories are everywhere you look—250 years ago, 13 colonies joined together to create a nation like no other in history but one led the way. Virginia has always been the crucible of our nation. America was made in Virginia.”
Accompanying the guests in attendance during the VA250 celebration were musical performances by the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Regimental Band, the Heartbeat of Freedom Drum Trio, and the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra Ensemble that debuted the VA250 fanfare composed by famed Broadway music arranger David Chase.
“You may be from Botetourt County like Chair Austin,” Florina continued. “You may be from Fairfax County such as I am. You may be a New Yorker, a Floridian, or a Nebraskan. It doesn’t matter where you come from or what you look like. It does not matter whether you can trace your lineage all the way back to the American Revolution or you just became a citizen last year.
“If you believe in the promise of America, in individual liberty, and equality before God, then Virginia is where you come from. Because this is where those ideas were born and raised. This is where a dream of freedom became a nation destined to achieve it. Here, in Virginia, you aren’t simply making a journey to Roanoke… you’re coming home to the state that started it all… Whether you are ‘come here’s’ or ‘from here’s,’ America, welcome home.”
