Shrewsbury Independence Day 2024: Fireworks, Festivities Nearby

SHREWSBURY, MA — Independence Day is fast approaching, so it's time to find out where you can celebrate in and around Shrewsbury. Area events include fireworks, festivals and other July 4 fun.

Shrewsbury won't have its own fireworks display, as usual, but there are a few nearby to help you mark Independence Day. Here's a guide to what’s going on in Shrewsbury and the surrounding areas for 2024:

• Worcester Annual Independence Day Fireworks, East Park, 4 p.m., June 28
• Star & Stripes over Framingham, Farm Pond Park, 5 p.m., June 28
• Worcester Red Sox fireworks, Polar Park, July 4, 5
• Milford July 4 Fireworks 2024, Fino Field, 9 p.m., July 5
• Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, Charles River Esplanade, 8 p.m., July 4

(Shrewsbury's weekly Thursday summer market won't be held on July 4)

Today, 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.