May through August 2026

In celebration of America’s 250th birthday, OpSail returned to New York Harbor with a fleet of tall ships. On board Lilac, we curated a small exhibit to remember past OpSail festivals in our city. Photographs of ships that participated in the first OpSail reminded viewers of the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Commemorative booklets from later OpSails noted tall ships arriving in New York in 1976 for the country’s bicentennial, in 1986 for the 100th birthday of the Statue of Liberty, and in 2000 to mark the end of the millennium.

The exhibit also included a video created by crewmember Jordan Birnbaum using audio, video and still photos from the Ronald Reagan Library and the National Archives and Records Administration. It celebrates the gatherings of tall ships that, through the decades, have marked our nation's history--from the 1964 World's Fair to America's 250th birthday in 2026,