RIYADH: The US Embassy in Riyadh celebrated US Independence Day on Tuesday at Quincy house by taking visitors on a journey through America’s history and culture. 

“Tonight’s theme is Route 66, the most famous of America’s highways. It stretches 2,400 miles, 3,800 km across two-thirds of the North American continent,” Denison Offutt, charge d’affaires of the US Embassy said.

US Independence Day is celebrated annually on July 4, but Feb. 14 was chosen as a day to celebrate the first meeting between King Abdulaziz and President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945.

“Feb. 14 marks another piece of history, the faithful meeting of a king and a president, between Franklin D. Roosevelt and His Majesty King Abdulaziz aboard the USS Quincy, in a day that changed history,” Daniel Benaim, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Arabian Peninsula affairs, said.

“Saudi Arabia is a country that is barreling ahead into the future impatiently, excitingly and excitedly, and we are proud to be a part of that story of progress,” Benaim said.

The embassy said that the Route 66 theme celebrates America’s connectedness, diversity and advancement through innovation, all of which have been and will remain characteristics of the US-Saudi relationship.

Guests at the celebration were taken through four cities along the Route 66 highway, including Chicago, St. Louis, Albuquerque and Los Angeles, highlighting their food, culture, architecture, history and music, in addition to a display of vintage American automobiles.

“Route 66 tells the story of an America in motion from the 1930s to the 1960s. This is also the timeframe of the bilateral relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US began and was nurtured,” the charge d’affaires said.

“What is unique about Route 66 is that it connected existing roads that existed throughout the US in small and large towns in America.”

Guest of honor during the reception was Abdulmajeed Alsmari, acting undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Protocol Affairs.