President Donald Trump is slated to speak at the opening ceremony for the Great American State Fair in June as part of the United States’ 250th-birthday celebrations in Washington.

Subscribe to read this story ad-free

Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.

Danielle Alvarez, a spokesperson for the Trump-backed Freedom 250 group behind the event, said Saturday that the president would “personally kick off this historic celebration” on June 24.

Trump had posted on Truth Social earlier Saturday that he would look into hosting an “America is Back” rally at the “same time, same location” after multiple recording artists pulled out of a series of concerts meant to take place during the fair, scheduled for June 24 to July 10 on Washington’s National Mall.

“I understand Artists are getting ‘the yips’ having to do with their performance … so I am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar, the man who loves our Country more than anyone else, and the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate ‘Artists,’ and give a major speech, rallying the Country forward like I have done ever since being President!” Trump wrote in his post.

A person familiar with planning for the event said Trump was always expected to headline a July Fourth event at the fair, and now he’ll do the opening ceremony too.

Freedom 250, a public-private partnership backed by the Trump administration that is organizing events to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday, last week announced a slate of artists that would perform on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays during this summer’s Great American State Fair.

Shortly after the lineup was announced, Morris Day and the Time, Young MC, Martina McBride, the Commodores and Bret Michaels each announced they were declining to participate, saying they did not know the event was political in nature. Freedom 250 has not announced replacement artists.

Freedom 250 officials denied that the event would be political, with a spokesperson telling NBC News on Friday that the group “is a nonpartisan organization singularly focused on celebrating America’s 250th anniversary and bringing Americans together around this historic milestone. From the outset, our work has reflected the unifying spirit of this moment.”

The event has fueled confusion about the two prominent national groups sponsoring events in Washington and around the country to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary: Freedom 250 and America250. One organization, America250, was created after Congress passed a law 10 years ago to create a group responsible for planning events to celebrate the semiquincentennial, while the other, Freedom 250, was created following one of Trump’s executive orders last year.

Freedom 250 is the organization sponsoring several other marquee events in Washington this summer to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, like the FIFA World Cup 2026 Fan Zone in June, the Salute to America 250 Celebration and Fireworks on July 4, and the Patriot Games national fitness competition in August.

In Saturday’s statement, Alvarez said the multiweek Great American State Fair will be “a World’s Fair celebrating the people, traditions, innovations, and spirit that make America the greatest nation on Earth.”

The fair will feature “state exhibits, industry displays, family friendly attractions and movie screenings, musical performances, military ensembles, incredible flyovers, and an iconic Ferris wheel on the National Mall,” she added.