STEUBENVILLE — The nation’s 250th birthday celebration might be months away, but local leaders are already planning to make it one to remember.

Organizers say the festivities will have everything the community has come to expect — and then some, thanks to a $5,000 grant from America250-Ohio. That money can be used either to tell the community’s story — think planting trees that symbolize local history and culture, honoring veterans of all wars, or Revolutionary War veterans in particular, or telling local history stories — or an educational focus — looking at the justice system, for instance, how government works or educating students about the key texts that shaped American democracy, including the Northwest Ordinance, Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, or even service projects.

“We’re hoping to build upon our traditional Fourth of July events,” said Third Ward Councilwoman Heather Hoover, who’s heading the planning committee. “The city does a wonderful job highlighting this special occasion and we’re excited to have received this grant to include a few more elements.”

Hoover said no matter what, they want young people to be involved.

“We’re looking to include the many talents that our area students have,” she said. “We haven’t finalized our timeline yet, but are looking to include various works of art, performances and other pieces of work that are inspired by our youth. We’ll also be exploring historical images of Steubenville and deciding what pieces will be selected to be a part of a historical marker that will be placed in the green space next to the city building.”

Committee member Paul Zuros, executive director of Historic Fort Steuben and the Steubenville Visitors Center, said America’s semiquincentennial coincides with the reconstructed fort’s 40th anniversary, so they’re planning to “do some special exhibits” that will emphasize its role in the nation’s westward expansion. He said they want to keep the focus “at the local level.”

“We were the frontier,” he pointed out. “The soldiers and officers who were stationed here, particularly the officers, were veterans of the American Revolution. They had served at Yorktown and other important moments in our nation’s history.”

Some received land grants as payment for their military service and settled in the area, he explained, adding this part of Ohio “was a ‘gift’ they could give the soldiers.

“This was the frontier — what they were doing out here, the First American Regiment, was protecting the surveyors who were coming here to get the Seven Ranges — really, the eastern part of Ohio — ready for settlement,” Zuros continued.

Zuros said they’re planning to “do a lot of local history stuff, and talk about Revolutionary War patriots, people from Jefferson County who (played important roles in history)” in the months leading up to the semiquincentennial. The idea, he said, is to get everybody interested — and involved.

The fort is an official stop on the America 250-Ohio Commission’s Lake Erie to Ohio River Trail. It’s part of the more than 150 sites across Ohio that showcase the role water has played in moving people, goods and ideas across the state — evidence, Zuros said, that the Ohio River played a crucial role not just in Ohio’s development, but the nation’s as well. He calls it a “major highway through history.”