Alexandria’s George Washington Birthday Parade

The City of Alexandria, Virginia, has the prestigious honor of being George Washington's hometown. The first president had lived there and worked with the community for over forty years leaving a long lasting legacy of his involvement to our community, state, and nation. 

The City of Alexandria and its citizens have a long history of honoring the birthday of the country’s first president and local citizen. In Alexandria, the first recorded celebration was in 1780; however, Washington did not attend a birthday celebration in Alexandria until the Birthnight Balls at John Gadsby’s City Tavern in 1798 and 1799. Since then, the community continued celebrating Washington’s birthday with banquets, wreath-layings, dances, and parades.

Since the early twentieth century, citizens of Alexandria and local businesses have come together to spearhead various events more consistently to honor Washington’s birthday. In 1976, the City of Alexandria formally created the George Washington Birthday Celebration Committee as an official committee to organize and carry out the City’s annual celebration. The largest event sponsored by the City is the George Washington Birthday Parade, held each year on Presidents’ Day (officially known as Washington’s Birthday) where crowds of up to 80,000 visit join in the festivities.

The George Washington Legacy Foundation is proud to organize sponsorship of the Washington’s Birthday Parade. To support the parade, please see our sponsorship options.