Andrew Petkofsky
December 08, 2006

America’s 400th Anniversary

Historic Jamestowne

Jamestown Settlement

WILLIAMSBURG — You’re invited to America’s 400th Anniversary party, but it could cost up to $90 for the weekend.

Date-specific, single-day tickets for adults cost $30 to the gala “America’s Anniversary Weekend” events May 11-13 and are now on sale, officials said yesterday. The festival of commemorative events, performances and exhibits will take place at Historic Jamestowne, Jamestown Settlement and an adjacent fairgrounds dubbed Anniversary Park. Tickets are $15 for children 6-12. Children younger than 6 get in free.

Tickets are available through Colonial Williamsburg, and may be reserved on the Internet at www.Americas400thAnniversary.com.

Telephone sales will start in January, officials said. All purchased tickets will be mailed in March.

Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, have announced a state visit to the United States in May in conjunction with the Jamestown anniversary, but the queen has not yet confirmed any dates or agreed to attend any anniversary-weekend events.

But officials promised that ticket holders will have access to plenty of commemorative moments, interactive exhibits, dramatic productions, live music and other attractions at all three venues.

“Anniversary Weekend is the result of a decade of planning, and provides America and the world with an opportunity to salute our traditions [of] representative government, free enterprise and cultural diversity that started here at Jamestown,” said Jeanne Zeidler, executive director of Jamestown 2007, the state agency organizing the ongoing 400th-anniversary commemoration of Jamestown’s founding as the first permanent English settlement in America.

Ticket sales will be limited to 90,000 visitors over the three days, officials said. The tickets provide bus transportation to and from satellite parking areas and admission to the three venues.

Anniversary Park will be constructed across state Route 31 from Jamestown Settlement on what has for years been a campground. Historic Jamestowne, the island site of the original James Fort, is operated by the National Park Service and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.

Jamestown Settlement, originally built for the 350th Jamestown anniversary in 1959 and recently expanded, is a state-owned museum with indoor galleries and outdoor living-history areas.

Andrew Petkofsky is a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

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