In 2026, the United States will celebrate its 250th birthday. Cities, towns, and neighborhoods across the nation are already planning festivals, historical tours, concerts, and fireworks displays to mark this incredible milestone. With millions of visitors expected to travel, the communities that prepare early will capture the most attention, tourism dollars, and local pride.

The question is: how will you make sure your destination stands out?

Interactive maps are one of the most effective tools for engaging visitors and promoting events. With Proxi, you can create a digital event hub that shows every celebration happening in your community, whether it’s a parade route, a walking tour, or a neighborhood festival. These maps can be easily embedded on your website, shared on social media, and even printed for on-the-ground distribution.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to use Proxi to create America’s 250th event maps that highlight your community’s best experiences, attract visitors, and make it simple for everyone to explore your destination.

Create Numbered Event Maps That Tell a Story

A numbered map is ideal for creating a sense of flow and storytelling. You can design a heritage walking tour, a “250 Stops of History” trail, or a downtown celebration route that guides visitors through your city’s highlights.

With Proxi, you can assign numbered markers to each stop, add descriptions and photos, and include links for tickets or additional details. Visitors can follow the numbered order to see the most important sites, or explore freely based on what interests them.

Numbered maps are especially powerful for historical events and tours tied to America’s founding story. They make complex itineraries easy to follow and give visitors a clear path to experience everything your community has to offer.

Once your map is ready, you can embed it on your website, share it on social media, or print it for visitor centers and hotels. By combining interactive and print-friendly options, your map becomes a universal guide for all audiences.

Add Dates and Times to Help Visitors Plan Their Trips

During America’s 250th celebrations, travelers will want to plan their days around multiple events — from parades and reenactments to concerts and fireworks. With Proxi, you can add date and time information directly to every event point on your interactive map, transforming it into a dynamic digital itinerary.

Each pin on your map can include start and end times, a short description, and links to tickets or registration pages. Visitors can filter or browse events happening today, tomorrow, or throughout the entire celebration weekend. This helps them create their own schedule and stay organized while exploring your destination.

For destination marketers and tourism teams, adding date and time details also means your map doubles as a living event calendar. You can manage every event in one place without juggling multiple tools. Whenever you update or add new events, your embedded maps update automatically across your website and partner pages.

This feature turns Proxi from a simple mapping tool into a real-time visitor experience platform — one that keeps travelers informed and your destination top of mind.

Embed a Calendar of Events Alongside Your Map

With Proxi, you don’t need a separate event calendar tool. Every Proxi map includes an interactive List View that automatically orders events based on their date and time. This means your map can serve as both a visual guide and a chronological event calendar.

As soon as you add dates to your events, they appear in List View in order. Visitors can scroll through upcoming events just like a calendar, click any listing to see where it’s located, and then view details or directions. The List View and Map View work together seamlessly, helping people plan their visit by both time and location.

Because Proxi’s List View is embeddable, you can add it directly to your website or community landing page. It updates automatically as you edit your map, keeping your event guide current without extra effort.

This built-in calendar view is ideal for communities hosting multiple days of 250th birthday activities. It helps visitors quickly see what’s happening each day while also giving them an interactive map to explore nearby attractions, dining, and experiences.

Invite the Community to Add Their Own Events

America’s 250th is about national pride, but it’s also about local participation. Your community can help you fill out your map by contributing their own events. With Proxi’s community submission feature, anyone can add their celebration to your shared map.

A local museum might submit a historical exhibit. A restaurant might promote a 250th-themed tasting menu. A neighborhood group might host a block party. You can review and approve each submission to ensure it fits your event theme and brand.

This collaborative approach makes residents and organizations feel included while reducing the workload for event organizers. It also helps surface smaller, local experiences that might otherwise go unnoticed — giving visitors a richer, more authentic look at your destination.

Print Your Maps for Visitors and Partners

While digital maps drive online discovery, printed maps remain a powerful tool for in-person experiences. You can easily export your Proxi map as a high-quality image or PDF for print.

Add a QR code that links to the interactive version so visitors can switch between paper and mobile. Distribute printed maps at visitor centers, hotels, and local businesses to make it easy for people to explore your community without needing to download an app.

Printed versions are especially useful for festivals, parades, or walking tours where visitors might not have strong cell service. They also make great inserts for magazines, travel guides, and local newspapers promoting your 250th events.

Use Check-In Events to Encourage Exploration

Proxi’s check-in feature adds an interactive, gamified layer to your 250th celebration map. Visitors can check in at event stops, mark locations as visited, or even earn prizes for completing challenges.

You can use this feature to create a “250th Passport Challenge” that encourages people to visit multiple sites or attend several events. Each check-in provides valuable engagement data and gives visitors a sense of accomplishment as they explore your destination.

This approach boosts local business participation, increases dwell time, and keeps visitors interacting with your brand long after their trip. It’s an ideal feature for Main Streets, chambers of commerce, and tourism organizations that want to build excitement while collecting meaningful analytics.

How to Market Your Destination for America’s 250th

Creating a map is just the beginning. To attract attention and drive attendance, your map should be part of a larger destination marketing strategy for America’s 250th. Here are a few ideas to help your campaign stand out:

1. Claim your story early.
Identify the themes that make your region special. Maybe your area played a role in the Revolutionary War, or maybe you have a thriving arts scene that connects past and present. Build your 250th message around that story and carry it through your events, branding, and map design.

2. Optimize your content for search.
When people search for “America’s 250th events,” “250th birthday celebrations,” or “America 250 destinations,” your map and website should appear. Use those keywords in your headlines, descriptions, and metadata. Embed your Proxi map on pages titled around those searches to help your destination rank higher.

3. Partner with local organizations.
Work with chambers, Main Street programs, tourism boards, and city departments to embed your map on their sites. The more websites share your Proxi map, the more reach and backlinks you gain.

4. Promote through social media and press.
Share your event map on social platforms, tag local influencers, and reach out to travel writers. Highlight the interactive features that make your map special, such as check-ins, event calendars, and crowdsourced submissions.

5. Keep your campaign fresh.
The 250th celebration will last for months. Update your map regularly, spotlight new events, and post progress updates. Encourage visitors to share their check-ins or favorite stops using your destination’s hashtag.

A Call to Action for Communities

America’s 250th birthday is more than a national celebration. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity for communities to share their stories, welcome visitors, and highlight what makes their destination special.

With Proxi, you can build interactive event maps, printed guides, community challenges, and embeddable calendars that bring your 250th celebrations to life. You don’t need technical expertise or complicated software — just your local knowledge and creativity.

Start building your America’s 250th event map today and make your destination a must-visit stop for travelers in 2026.