On Friday, July 3, 2026 the Town of Camden will hold the 250th Anniversary Commemoration of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, on the Camden Village Green. 

The event is sponsored by the Camden American Legion War Memorial Post 30 from 10 a.m. to noon. The theme of the Commemoration will be the Revolutionary War on the Coast of Maine from 1775 to 1783, with the focus on the early beginnings of the war on the Maine coast in 1775.

Camden's involvement in the Revolutionary War was a time when Rockport was a part of Camden and Camden men served as soldiers in the Revolutionary War. 

The Commemoration will start at 10:30 a.m. with music provided by the Bay Winds North Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Marlene Hall. This will be followed by the start of the ceremonies at 11 a.m. with Post Adjutant Jeff Sukeforth as Master of Ceremonies. Speakers will include members of Post 30 and Revolutionary War Soldier reenactor Henry "Hank" Lunn, who will speak about the early land and sea battles in Maine, the Penobscot Expedition, and how the families of Camden's Revolutionary War soldiers continued to serve the country through the 20th Century, from the Civil War to the Vietnam Warr.

The Commemoration is dedicated to the men of Camden and Rockport who served in the military militias and the Regular Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and to the women and children of the District of Maine, who kept the home fires burning while the men were away at war.

To quote longtime Camden Historian and Author Barbara F. Dyer: "There is a bronze plaque at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, commemorating the 1,000 men from Maine who served in the Massachusetts Regiments of the Continental Army under General George Washington in the Winter of 1777-1778, sharing the hardships they endured. But Maine has done less than an adequate job of remembering the contributions and hardships of this frontier wilderness toward our independence. Falmouth (now Portland), Machias and Camden should be as famous to our State of Maine as Bunker Hill is to Massachusetts and Saratoga is as to New York."

The commemoration will show how Falmouth (Portland), Machias and Camden should be as famous to Maine.

In case of inclement weather, the commemoration will take place at the Camden Opera House at the same time.