This past weekend marked a special occasion for Washington. Friday was the 287^th birthday of the city’s namesake and our country’s first president, General George Washington.

It was a day marked with ceremony and celebration. In addition to the unveiling of a new marble bust of George Washington at City Hall that afternoon, Friday evening was a party on the waterfront.

Hosted by the Washington Harbor District Alliance, the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce, the Washington Tourism Development Authority and Curtis Media Group, George Washington’s Rock & Roll Birthday Bash brought together good company, good music and good food for an awesome time.

Earlier in the day, George Washington himself was slated to parade down Main Street in a Ford Mustang, with plans to cross the Pamlico, Delaware River style, the next morning.

The weather, however, had different plans. It was cold. It was rainy. The wind was blowing. It was straight up nasty outside. On both Friday and Saturday, the elements conspired to rain on the parade, literally.

The weather, however, did not stop a crowd of people from showing up to the celebration on Friday. Nor did it prevent die-hard runners from donning powdered wigs for a cold and rainy 5K race the next morning.

These ideas and the events that took place this past weekend were, in a word, awesome.

A quick online search will show that there are not many communities in our country that celebrate Washington’s Birthday with any special events. The biggest hits come from Loredo, Texas, Alexandria, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Mount Vernon, Washington’s historical home place.

Of all the countless Washingtons on the map (or that annoyingly show up in our Google searches) only big Washington on the Potomac and the Original Washington on the Pamlico celebrated the occasion with any kind of fanfare.

While those celebrations in other cities may be very nice, Washington, North Carolina, has the potential to throw the best birthday celebration anywhere in the world. When it comes celebrating President’s Day and George Washington’s Birthday, we should be the undisputed champions, hands down, at least in the state of North Carolina, and what we saw this past weekend may very well be the beginning of that claim to fame.

Let’s face it; February isn’t exactly the most fun time of the year. But something like George Washington’s Birthday could become something that people look forward to and plan for on an annual basis. In time, it could become a hallmark event of Washington, like the Wildlife Arts Festival, Summer Festival or Smoke on the Water.

Hats off to the ones who put in the hard work to organize this past weekend’s events. Keep up the good work you are doing building up community spirit, and here’s hoping for a little more sunshine in 2020.