July 4th 2025 Fireworks, Events Around San Mateo County

REDWOOD CITY, CA — Independence Day falls on a Friday in 2025, kicking off a star-spangled three-day weekend packed with fireworks, festivals and other Fourth of July fun in and around Redwood City.

To help you fit it all in on your 4th of July calendar, Patch has put together a guide to what’s going on in Redwood City and the surrounding areas.

July 4 Festivities For 2025

July 4th Parade, Fest & Drone Show 2025: Redwood City

• Firefighters Pancake Breakfast: 8 a.m. - 11 a.m. Marshall Street Fire Station, 755 Marshall St., Redwood City, CA
• Parade: 10 a.m. Downtown Redwood City, CA (Route map posted below)
• Festival: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Along Broadway, Redwood City, CA
• Drone Show: Approximately 9:30 p.m., Port of Redwood City, CA

Redwood City is foregoing the fireworks display and will offer up a dazzling drone show instead.

San Mateo will host families for activities and a concert July 4 at Central Park.

There will be live music, food and drinks, games and activities, and more at the Pacifica July 4 celebration at Frontierland Park.

Independence Day commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. In that document, the 13 original colonies declared their independence from Great Britain.

During the pivotal summer of 1776, the pre-Revolutionary celebrations honoring King George III’s birthday were replaced with mock funerals as a symbolic break from the crown.

It was an exciting time in Philadelphia — the Continental Congress voted to break from the crown and, two days later on July 4, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the original 13 colonies —New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland. Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia — to adopt the Declaration of Independence.

The first annual commemoration of the nation’s independence was in Philadelphia on July 4, 1777, while the Revolutionary War was ongoing. Fireworks have been part of Fourth of July festivities since the first celebration in Philadelphia.

Today, Americans celebrate with fireworks, parades, concerts, and family gatherings and barbecues. Celebrations, though, predate by centuries the designation of Independence Day as a federal holiday, which didn’t happen until 1941.