4 Fireworks Shows In Worcester For July 4 In 2024

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester will begin a series of July 4 celebrations this week, starting with the city's marquee family festival and fireworks at East Park on Friday.

The Independence Day season will continue on July 3 with a Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra concert and fireworks at Institute Park. The Worcester Red Sox will continue the team's fireworks series after games at Polar Park on both July 4 and July 5.

The East Park July 4 celebration gets going around 4 p.m. Friday, with food and music to follow. Fireworks will go off beginning around 9:30 p.m.

There are a few nearby to help you mark Independence Day. Here's a guide to what’s going on in the surrounding areas for 2024:

• Star & Stripes over Framingham, Farm Pond Park, 5 p.m., June 28
• Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, Charles River Esplanade, 8 p.m., July 4
• Milford July 4 Fireworks 2024, Fino Field, 9 p.m., July 5
• Uxbridge July 4 Fireworks, July 6, 9 p.m.

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.