July 4th 2025 Fireworks, Events Around Winnetka

WINNETKA, IL — 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 Winnetka.

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 Winnetka and the surrounding areas.

July 4 Festivities For 2025

Fourth of July Fireworks On July 3, 2025, at Glencoe Beach

Fireworks will be shot off at 9 p.m. on July 3 at Glencoe Beach and there will be viewing from Lakefront Beach.

Wilmette July 3 Fireworks, 2025 Independence Day Celebration

Gillson Park - July 3 at 5 p.m.

Enjoy an evening packed with Independence Day Celebration at Gillson Park! We’ll have food vendors, live music, performers and a fireworks show to kick off your 4th a day early.

Evanston 4th of July Celebration: Concert & Fireworks

Dawes Park - July 4 at 7:30 p.m

The lakefront fireworks show is scheduled will to begin around 9:30 p.m. and will be visible from most lakefront parks, according to organizers

Skokie/Niles Fourth of July Fireworks 2025

Downtown Skokie + Niles West High School - July 4 from 12 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

A few hours after the Skokie 4th of July Parade downtown, make your way over to Niles West High School for the best free fireworks show and entertainment around!

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.