WASHINGTON — The Big Birthday Party has begun. The 250th Anniversary of America’s Independence is officially on Saturday, but the U.S. government has already begun the festivities.

Freedom 250 is President Donald Trump’s official commemoration of the independence anniversary, and his Great American State Fair kicked off last Thursday on the National Mall. And while the city is in the grip of a sweltering heatwave this week, it didn’t stop visitors from making the trip to the nation’s capital to celebrate in their best patriotic attire, including shirts and hats with American flags and bald eagle decals.

“People of all shapes, sizes, ages. Everyone’s just been in here,” said Deputy Director of VISIT Missouri Megan Rogers, who is a resident of Jefferson City. “Everyone’s been talking. It’s amazing what a small world it is when we’re thousands of miles from home, and it’s still a small world. It’s been great. We’ve really enjoyed it.”

From the Capitol to the Washington Monument, the fair hosted food, concert stages and booths for all 50 states.

Missouri’s booth boasted several pictures of landmarks and parks from the Show Me State and included a map of spots to visit. Roberts said choosing what to include in the booth was one of the bigger challenges over the past four months.

“I will tell you, there were a lot of people and a lot of discussion on which pictures to bring, because we have so much, and we didn’t want to miss anything, but we couldn’t show it all,” said Roberts. “So, we did our best to represent the whole state.”

Route 66 was a main feature of the booth, as it, like America, celebrates a landmark anniversary. The highway was built 100 years ago, beginning in Springfield, Missouri, in 1926.

Brad Mularcik, a resident of Ohio, stopped into the Missouri booth as he worked his way down the row of state attractions. He said that when his family did a tour of Route 66 years ago, Missouri was one of the highlights.

“All of the attractions were really cool, and there was a high density of them,” Mularcik said. “It took us 12 hours to go 125 miles because of all the times we stopped.”

Also featured at the fair was a display from Anheuser-Busch, located near the main stage where bands and musicians have been performing since the fair opened. The brewing company, headquartered in St. Louis, brought a museum of memorabilia, featured a beer garden and even had two of the company’s famous Clydesdales for fairgoers to enjoy.

For refreshments, the fair offers several air-conditioned booths with food ranging from American classics like hot dogs and turkey legs, to a wider selection including fried rice and dumplings. To beat the heat, the fair also offered multiple stations with free water bottles.

The fair continues through July 10.