Five-day Harborfest celebration to kick off Wednesday

The 34th annual Boston Harborfest will celebrate the city’s Colonial roots this week at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, the mayor’s office said.

Kicking off Wednesday at noon, the five-day festival will feature more than 200 activities, including vocal performances and the Harborfest cake-cutting ceremony, according to Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s office.

Members from the US Coast Guard Sector Boston and the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, along with several other organizations, will join city officials in launching the July Fourth festival.

The Freedom Trail Players, dressed in 18th-century attire, will also be in attendance with National Park Service rangers, providing historical information about Faneuil Hall and other Freedom Trail locations.

“Each year, Harborfest brings thousands of residents and visitors to downtown Boston to celebrate the birth of our nation, right where it happened,” Walsh said in a statement. “I would like to thank all of our partners for another great year of fantastic events.”

Harborfest began in 1982 as a three-day festival with 35 activities.

Over the past 34 years, it has evolved into a “national celebration,” Walsh’s office said, and added it is considered the country’s “largest patriotic celebration.”