Americans will celebrate the 4th of July with parades, barbecues – and lots of fireworks

Many Americans weren’t letting worries about their wallets stop them from traveling and enjoying fireworks as they celebrated the birth of their nation with parades, barbecues and splashes of fiery color against the night sky.

Travel records were projected to fallwith people already crowding airports and crowding highways ahead of the 4th of July to get to their destinations.

Fireworks are also expected to reach an all-time high with an untold number of backyard displays plus 16,000 professional shows lighting up the skyline from sea to shining sea, a consumer fireworks industry group said.

“This is how we celebrate. It’s bombs exploding in the air. It’s the red glow of rockets. This is how people show their pride and patriotism,” Julie Heckman of the American Pyrotechnics Association told the Associated Press.

All signs pointed to big celebrations: The Transportation Security Administration reported that a record 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 projected that 60.6 million people will travel by car during the holiday season.

Part of the increase in travel has been attributed to lower inflation, although Americans remain concerned about the economy.

Lots of barbecue, desserts, cold drinks and the American flag were available. But Americans also celebrated in other ways unique to their communities.

Off the rocky coast of Down East, Maine, some planned to enjoy lobster boat racing. Descendants of the 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, participated in their annual tug-of-war contest, in which the losers ended up in a lagoon.

And, of course, there is the annual hot dog eating contest in Coney Island, New York.

However, at least one community was about to hold a quiet celebration: the Northern California town of Oroville’s annual event. fireworks were canceled as nearly 26,000 residents remained displaced by the growing Thompson Fire, while hundreds of firefighters worked under extreme heat to prevent the flames from reaching more homes.

The Fourth of July holiday usually unites Americans in their common love of country, but the 2024 version has a deep backdrop. political polarization and a division presidential race.

In Boston, where tens of thousands of people were expected to enjoy the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, conductor Keith Lockhart said it was inspiring to see people of different political persuasions gathered on the Charles River Esplanade. But he noted that “you would have to have your head buried deep in the sand not to see the deep divisions in our country.”

“It is indeed a dangerous time,” he wrote in an email before the show. “If, even for one day, we can set aside our differences and embrace our commonalities, that has to be a positive thing.”