Central Illinois joins synchronized national Declaration of Independence reading
Community News
By Kayla Johnson
July 9, 2026
This VIDEO was originally published on July 9, 2026, by 25News.
CENTRAL ILLINOIS (25News Now) - Communities in Washington and Peoria gathered Wednesday to take part in a synchronized national reading of the Declaration of Independence, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the first time the document was read aloud in public.
The event, called “Sharing the Spirit of America,” marked July 8, 1776, the date the Declaration was first read publicly outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia.