Us’ 250th Is Showtime For Historical Impersonators

If you see George Washington and Benjamin Franklin arguing about British Crown resistance tactics this summer, it’s probably not because you spent too much time in the sun. Museums, historical societies, and event organizers are tapping historical impersonators to enliven local celebrations of America’s 250th birthday.

The powdered-wig-donning history buffs typically appear in schools and at educational events, but this year, they might have more well-funded opportunities to flaunt their encyclopedic knowledge of the founding fathers.

Ben Franklin bonanza

The federal government, states, and localities are spending hundreds of millions to celebrate America’s semiquincentennial. Part of the funds will go to commemorative happenings featuring performers personifying the big names from your eighth-grade history class:

• An impersonator of the nation’s first president appeared at the US Mint’s recent unveiling of a commemorative George Washington coin tied to the American Revolution’s 250th anniversary in Mount Vernon, VA.
• The nonprofit Massachusetts250 advertises several events near Boston, aka the cradle of the revolution, tied to its 250th anniversary with costumed impersonators of figures like John Adams, Martha Washington, and Rachel Revere, Paul Revere’s wife.
• The nonprofit Historic Philadelphia hired 10 new performers this winter to join the ranks of costumed storytellers stationed in the city’s old town, personifying local historical figures like Benjamin Franklin and the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop Richard Allen. Each new hire gets street performance training at the so-called Benstitute.

Visits to tourist sites that employ historical impersonators are projected to skyrocket this summer. For instance, Colonial Williamsburg expects 2.1 million visitors in 2026, up from 1.8 million in 2024.

Private gigs boom

Brian Patrick Mulligan, a full-time Ben Franklin impersonator with 35 years of experience, told Morning Brew that he’s getting five to ten private event inquiries per day, roughly as many as he got weekly last year. Historic Philadelphia said that requests to hire its impersonators are up about 40% this year.

Impersonating the characters that grace America’s cash can be lucrative: Mulligan charges $1,776 for an hourlong keynote address.

Those who don’t resemble a founding father…can still enlist in the countless costumed historical battle reenactments taking place across the nation to mark the anniversary of the American Revolution.—SK