Minnesota plans statewide America 250 celebrations, Beltrami County joins in

Minnesota's America 250 preparations are no longer just a state Capitol exercise. In Beltrami County, the question is which local institutions, from county officials and schools to museums, veterans groups and tribal governments, will help tell the story when the nation marks its 250th anniversary in 2026.

Gov. Tim Walz created the Governor’s Committee on Minnesota America 250 through Executive Order 23-11 in September 2023 to plan, guide, promote and coordinate the commemoration of the American Revolution’s 250th anniversary. The committee is also charged with elevating Minnesota’s own contributions over the past 250 years and with working alongside the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, state and local commissions, and public and private partners. Its annual reports were due every Jan. 15, and the committee filed both its 2025 and 2026 reports on Jan. 15.

Those reports show the framework is already taking shape. Completed work includes an official Minnesota America 250 logo, a dedicated microsite hosted by the Minnesota Historical Society and an online submission form for events and programs across the state. The committee is co-chaired by Briana Joyner and Bill Von Bank, and its members include Sen. Steve Cwodzinski, Rep. Dean Urdahl, historian Jeffrey Kolnick, Emily Thabes, Michael Minks, Molly Huber, Carla Manzoni, Wendy Petersen-Biorn, Elliot James and Kirsten Wittman. Thabes gives Beltrami County a direct seat at the table as the state decides what 2026 will look like.

That matters in northern Minnesota, where the local history is layered and the tribal geography is central. Beltrami County was created in 1866, organized in 1896 and fully organized with Bemidji as county seat on May 17, 1897. The county takes its name from Italian explorer Giacomo Beltrami, but any countywide observance will also have to account for the Red Lake Reservation, which lies almost entirely within Beltrami County and sits about 25 miles north of Bemidji, and for the Leech Lake Reservation, which covers parts of Beltrami County as well as Cass, Itasca and Hubbard counties.

The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council says the state has 11 tribal nations, seven Anishinaabe reservations and four Dakota communities, and stresses that each tribe is a separate sovereign nation. That makes tribal participation more than a symbolic add-on in Beltrami County; it is a basic condition of any honest account of the region’s past. The Beltrami County Historical Society is another likely player, especially as schools, museums, veterans groups and local officials begin deciding which events, exhibits and public programs will define the county’s place in Minnesota’s America 250 observance.