I remember the Bicentennial, too. My Navy ship, the USS Farragut, was a part of the festivities in NYC. The Tall Ships and the fireworks at the Statue Of Liberty are still great memories (the girls flashing us from the speedboats during the Tall Ships event wasn't bad either).
My father was a squadron commander at NAS Corpus Christi. We had a BIG air show! I remember seeing the tall ships parade on TV.