A Day of Music, Kites and Reflection as The Huntington Marks America at 250

As the United States approaches its 250th birthday, The Huntington is turning a single summer Sunday into a sprawling meditation on what the country has been and might still become. On June 28, the San Marino institution hosts the THIS LAND IS … Community Festival, an all-day gathering of performances, dancing, storytelling, artmaking and film screenings that runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The festival anchors a multiyear initiative of the same name, which draws on The Huntington’s library, art and botanical collections to examine the American story through the lens of land. The title borrows from Woody Guthrie’s 1940s anthem “This Land Is Your Land,” and the day’s programming reaches for the same mix of celebration and reckoning.

Visitors can watch a documentary about the life of artist-activist Nobuko Miyamoto, followed by a talkback with Miyamoto and co-directors Tadashi Nakamura and Quyên Nguyen-Le. The community-arts group Great Leap will lead a gathering built around shared rhythm and movement, while folk musicians perform work inspired by Guthrie’s roots-music legacy. Professional kite pilots from the San Diego Kite Club will fill the sky overhead, and textile artist Erin Berkowitz of Berbo Studio will teach visitors to dye bandanas using colors drawn from the California landscape.

The festival unfolds alongside the exhibition “This Land Is …,” on view at the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery through Jan. 11, 2027, and organized around themes of roots, uprootings, amendments and regeneration. Reservations are required for all visitors and members, and capacity is limited.

For a region still reckoning with the Eaton Fire’s losses, the day offers a rare chance to gather, reflect and imagine what comes next.

THIS LAND IS … Community Festival will run on Sunday, June 28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. For more information, call (626) 405-2100 or visit huntington.org. Admission is included with general admission, $29 to $34. Reservations required.