Many Americans didn’t let concerns about their wallets stop them from traveling and enjoying fireworks as they celebrated the birth of their country with parades, barbecues and fiery splashes of color against the evening sky.
Travel numbers were predicted to declinewhile people are already stranded at airports and highways in the run-up to July 4, trying to get to their destination.
According to a consumer fireworks industry organization, the fireworks display was expected to reach an all-time high with an unknown number of backyard fireworks displays and 16,000 professional displays lighting up the horizon from sea to sea.
“This is how we celebrate. It’s the bombs exploding in the sky. It’s the red glow of the rockets. It’s how people show their pride and patriotism,” Julie Heckman of the American Pyrotechnics Association told The Associated Press.
All signs point to big parties: The Transportation Security Administration reported that nearly 3 million people traveled through airports in a single day last week, and that number is expected to be broken this week. And AAA predicted that 60.6 million people will travel by car over the holidays.
Some of the increase in travel can be attributed to declining inflation, even as Americans remain concerned about the economy.
There was plenty of barbecue, desserts, cold drinks, and the Stars and Stripes on tap. But Americans also celebrated in other ways that were unique to their communities.
Off the rocky coast of Down East, Maine, some planned to participate in lobster boat races. Descendants of signers of the Declaration of Independence rang the Liberty Bell 13 times—once for each of the original colonies—in Philadelphia. The California communities of Bolinas and Stinson Beach, north of San Francisco, held their annual tug-of-war, in which the losers end up in a lagoon.
And of course there is the annual hot dog eating contest on Coney Island in New York.
At least one community, however, got a subdued celebration: the Northern California city of Oroville’s annual commemoration. fireworks were cancelled An estimated 26,000 residents remain displaced by the growing Thompson fire, while hundreds of firefighters remain under fire extreme heat to prevent the flames from spreading to other houses.
The Fourth of July holiday typically unites Americans in their shared love for their country, but the 2024 version comes against a backdrop of deep political polarization and a divisive presidential elections.
In Boston, where tens of thousands of people were expected to enjoy the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, maestro Keith Lockhart said it was inspiring to see people of different political persuasions congregate on the Charles River Esplanade. But he noted that “you have to bury your head pretty deep in the sand not to notice the deep divisions in our country.”
“It is indeed a dangerous time,” he wrote in an email before the show. “If we can, even for one day, put aside our differences and embrace our similarities, that has to be a positive thing.”