Your March guide to 250th Anniversary events in Philadelphia

So far this year, we’ve already seen a hearty mix of remembrance and efforts to erase heroic pioneers of the past. We’re spotlighting the many events dedicated to getting things right and reminding us what we’re capable of, starting with the City’s yearlong Saturday Firstivals program, which is exactly what it sounds like: a festival of events celebrating Philly born-and-bred inventions and discoveries that were first in the country, or the world. They’re happening from 11am-1pm at different locations each Saturday throughout 2026. Check out the full Firstival lineup here, browsing by date, or by the map.

Of course, beyond the Firstivals, there is a banquet of Semiquincentennial events from organizations around the city, celebrating everything from furniture to medical history to community textiles. Let’s dive into some picks for March and early April.

Lady Liberty and feminist furniture

The Museum for Art in Wood
141 N. 3rd Street

Viola Bordon: Muliebrity
Now through July 26

Suite Américaine
April 3-July 26

Multi-disciplinary artist Viola Bordon’s triptych Muliebrity reimagines Lady Liberty in a richly layered textile work that questions who freedom has truly served, “prompting us to consider how figures of womanhood have been repeatedly mobilized to serve patriarchal institutions.”

On April 3, BA Harrington opens her exhibition Suite Américaine, which illustrates her reverence for America’s history of furniture making while inflecting it with a contemporary feminist imagination. Her artistic practice brings a new perspective to this tradition to reflect on the nation’s founding by considering contemporary issues around women’s rights, gender identity, marriage and family structure, and boundaries and borders. Philadelphia was a major center of 18th-century furniture, making Harrington’s exhibition a timely and unique exploration of a vital part of the city’s history of craft and commerce. It’s on view through July 26.

These Museum for Art in Wood events are part of Radical Americana, a citywide initiative from The Clay Studio exploring “how artists today are continuing the city’s robust legacy as a center for art, skill, and civic engagement.”

Making medical history

Discover Philly’s first medical colleges
Firstival Saturday: First Women’s Medical College: 1850
March 14, 11am-1pm
Drexel University Health Sciences Building, 60 N. 36th Street,

Celebrate the women who broke barriers (and a few norms) at the first degree-granting medical school for women. The Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania opened in 1850 at 229 Arch Street (627 Arch when the city renumbered the streets)—only 85 years after the first medical school in the States opened a few blocks away, for men (see below). In 1867, a graduate, Dr. Ann Preston, became the first woman dean. Today, it is part of Drexel College of Medicine.

Firstival Saturday: First Medical School in America: 1765
March 28, 11am-1pm
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Boulevard

In 1765, Philadelphia became home to the nation’s first medical school, setting the standard for training America’s earliest physicians. More than 250 years later, the Perelman School of Medicine continues to blend innovation and tradition, shaping the future of healthcare.

Photography, fire, and flags

The Barnes Foundation
2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Red Metal Dust
March 21, 2026-January 18, 2027

Commissioned by the Barnes for America’s 250th, Red Metal Dust is a new installation of photographic landscapes by acclaimed multimedia artist Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians), coming to the museum’s central Annenberg Court. On Friday, March 20, there is a preview of the 11-panel work and an evening of poetry and conversation featuring Hopinka in dialogue with writer and curator Candice Hopkins. It’s free, but seating is limited and registration is required.

The Science History Institute
315 Chestnut Street

Firstival Saturday: First Match Folder: 1892
March 21, 11am-1pm

We’ll celebrate anything! The first paper match folder—the precursor to the matchbook—was made in Philadelphia: “Explore how this fiery little invention lit the way for advertising, science, and everyday convenience.”

Parkway Central Library
1901 Vine Street

Wings & Water
Now through April

According to the Free Library, “Wings & Water is a community-based flag exhibit and embroidery workshop series presented by the Free Library of Philadelphia in collaboration with the Mason Art Stitch Collective. A large-scale stitched American flag will be on view through April in the Art Department at Parkway Central Library. The exhibit is free and open to the public during library hours; workshops take place on select Mondays and Saturdays with advance registration required.

Part of Philly 250 at the Free Library, the project reimagines the American flag as a collaborative, evolving artwork shaped by community participants over three months. Led by textile artist Duwenavue Sante Johnson, the work engages themes of migration, identity, and collective authorship within a public institutional setting.”

Get in touch!

Is your organization hosting a 250th-themed exhibition or event? Submit them for consideration in this column by sending all the info to [email protected]. Here are tips for pitching BSR.

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