Friday night at the Irma Hotel in Cody, a group of local residents honored an event that led up to “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” and the struggle for the United States of America’s founding and survival against the British Empire.

Paul Revere’s ride from Boston, and those of similar riders, to warn the surrounding towns of a likely British advance to find stores of rifles and gunpowder led, the next day, to that first shot at the Battle of Lexington, to the bridge at Concord where the redcoats were repulsed, and later on to the events of Bunker Hill and the realization that this rebellion was becoming a revolution.

So as a history buff, I’m thrilled Park County is embracing the sesquicentennial anniversary of America’s founding, and not just preparing a big party for July 4, 2026, but in recognizing the many pivotal events leading up to it.

And this history is still worth remembering 250 years later, because what was enshrined in our new nation was an ideal we should always be working to live up to.

And for now, as we reflect on the days leading up to the signing in Philadelphia, we should think of the work it took to make this happen. The USA was not founded by accident, but because patriots set aside differences to bind together in a pact to form a nation different from all other nations.

And yes, it took awhile for “All men are created equal” to come to full fruition in our country, but it’s important to note just how much we’ve tried to live up to our ideals.

Even before the declaration, men like Paul Revere and the minutemen who stood in the field at Lexington and across the bridge at Concord, were willing to risk their lives for an ideal.

Their spirit drove pioneers who, a century or more later, came upon the Big Horn Basin and saw promise where many saw just high desert.

So not only do we owe our lives to the “Spirit of ‘76,” and the men who signed their names to the Declaration of Independence, but to those who stood up for an ideal well before it was even put down on paper.