Fireworks Near Me: Evanston July 4th 2024 Events

EVANSTON, IL — Independence Day is here, so it's time to find out where you can celebrate in and around Evanston. Area events include fireworks, festivals and other Fourth of July fun.

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 Evanston and the surrounding area.

Wilmette July 3 Fun and Fireworks

What: Lakefront fireworks show and family festival
When: Live music begins at 5 p.m., fireworks are set to begin at 9:30 p.m.
Where: Gillson Park

The free event will feature vendors from C&W Market Ice Cream, Chabad Wilmette, Domino’s Pizza, Grecian Kitchen, La Cocinita, Mustard’s Last Stand and Sweet Tooth Donuts & Crepes. There are no ATMs on site and the event is cash-only. Read more...

Evanston July 4 Festivities For 2024

Founded in 1921 after a fireworks accident, the Evanston Fourth of July Association began as a safety initiative by the North End Mothers' Club and was renamed in 1980 to encompass all of Evanston. Now in its second century, the local volunteer association organizes the below festivities without the use of tax dollars.

What: Morning Games
When: 9 a.m.
Where: Seven locations around Evanston

• Baker Park – Forest Avenue & Keeney Street
• ETHS West Field (south end) – Church Street & Dodge Avenue
• Fleetwood-Jourdain Center – Foster Street & Darrow Avenue
• Kamen Park East – South Boulevard & Barton Avenue
• Lincolnwood School – McDaniel Avenue & Grant Street
• Robert Crown Community Center – Main Street & Dodge Avenue
• Willard School – Central Park Avenue & Park Place

Family playground activities have been part of the Evanston Fourth of July Association's traditional celebrations for 100 years, bringing together neighbors for free, fun games and awarding ribbons to winners. Read more...

What: Kids Fun Run
When: Packet pickup begins at noon, race at 12:45 p.m.
Where: Ackerman Park, at McDaniel Avenue and Central Street

The 0.7-mile run on Central Street is aimed at children 10 and under and costs $15 per child. Shirts, bibs and ribbons will be available to the first 125 children to check in on July 4.

What: Evanston Fourth of July Parade
When: 2 p.m.
Where: Central Street

Former 5th Ward Ald. Robin Rue Simmons, the chair of the Evanston Reparations Committee and founder of the nonprofit FirstRepair, will be the grand marshal for the 2024 Evanston 4th of July Parade, which has a theme of "Seeds of Change."

“Every year, we choose a theme that we hope will help inspire people to participate in the Celebration,” Tracy Alden, the president of the Evanston Fourth of July Association, said in a statement.

"We heard from people that they see the Celebration as mostly about family and friends, and our country, and that they’re really proud of Evanston’s diversity," Alden said. "But in the past, not everyone felt welcome by the small group of residents who originally founded the Celebration, and we’d like to make sure that’s never the case again — thus this theme.”

Other featured participants will include the Chesterton High School Trojan Guard Marching Band, Eclipse Drum & Bugle Corp, Four Star Brass Band, Wilmette Community Band, The Illinois Wheelmen, Jesse White Tumbling Team, Asociacion de Charros de la Mesa, South Shore Drill Team, Midwest Chapter - Model T Ford Club, Chicago Honey Bears Dancers, Chicago Highlanders and Los Paisanos Mariachi Band.

The parade heads east from Central Street and Central Park Avenue to Ashland Avenue, the location of Ryan Field. Chairs and blankets may not be placed on parkway until 6 a.m. on July 1, according to city ordinance. Read more...

What: Evanston 4th of July Concert and Fireworks
When: 7:30 p.m. concert, 9:30 p.m. fireworks
Where: Arrington Lakefront Lagoon at Dawes Park, Sheridan Road and Church Street. Read more...

These days, Americans celebrate the birth of a new nation 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.

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.