"Hold the date" for "one of the biggest gatherings in the history of Washington, D.C." on this Fourth of July, President Donald Trump said Sunday in an early-morning tweet.
So what can we expect?
Trump said a "Salute to America" celebration will be held at the Lincoln Memorial on July 4. The event will feature a "major fireworks display, entertainment and an address by your favorite President, me!"
The National Park Service, which manages the Lincoln Memorial, said Monday that specific plans are still in the works.
HOLD THE DATE! We will be having one of the biggest gatherings in the history of Washington, D.C., on July 4th. It will be called “A Salute To America” and will be held at the Lincoln Memorial. Major fireworks display, entertainment and an address by your favorite President, me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019
"While no final decisions have been made, we continue to work on creating a Salute to America program that will bring Americans from all over the country together in celebration of our great nation," Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst said in a statement.
The Park Service deferred questions to the White House. A representative there said details would be released as they become available.
D.C. already has multiple parades on July Fourth, including on Constitution Avenue; an annual concert on the West Lawn of the Capitol and an annual fireworks show broadcast by PBS.
It wasn't clear who would provide entertainment this year, or how Trump's gathering would fit in with the other planned events.
Some past celebrations have drawn huge numbers, with over 500,000 estimated in attendance in 1984 for a concert on the mall that included the Beach Boys. Crowd estimates for more recent events are not easily available, as the park service stopped providing crowd estimates in the mid-1990s.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's office said they were evaluating what would be new in the District this Fourth of July.
"Like you, we are still assessing what will be different this year, but we know these celebrations only truly salute America when they are inclusive, diverse and welcome all," spokeswoman LaToya Foster said in a statement.
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Trump teased the July Fourth event several weeks ago, saying it would be a "gathering" rather than the military parade he entertained after attending a French military procession in Paris in 2017.
Trump had wanted to see tanks and other military hardware rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue on Veterans Day last year, but senior administration officials halted planning after seeing the estimated $92 million price tag. The date also conflicted with Trump's return to Paris last November to help observe the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
"We're thinking about doing on the Fourth of July, or thereabouts, a parade," Trump said at a Cabinet meeting on Feb. 12. "A Salute to America parade. It'll be a, really a gathering, as opposed to a parade, I guess you'd have to say. Perhaps at the Lincoln Memorial. We're looking at sites. But we're thinking about doing something that would become, perhaps, a tradition."
