July 4th 2024 Fireworks, Events Around Tiverton-Little Compton

TIVERTON-LITTLE COMPTON, RI — Independence Day is fast approaching, so it's time to find out where you can celebrate in and around Tiverton and Little Compton. 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 Tiverton-Little Compton and the surrounding areas.

July 4 Festivities For 2024

What: Bristol Independence Day Fireworks

Where: Bristol Harbor

When: 9:30 p.m. July 3.

Visit downtown, do some shopping, and then watch a beautiful fireworks display.

What: Military, Civic and Firemen's Parade

Where: Various Bristol streets

When: 10:3 a.m. July 4.

The Fourth of July Parade begins at 10:30 a.m. and will step off at the corner of Chestnut Street and Hope Street (Rt. 114) and ends on High Street, between State Street and Bradford Street. Hope Street (Rt. 114) will be closed off beginning at 8:00 a.m., including Poppasquash Road. See more info here.

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.

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