Fireworks Delight Fourth of July Crowd
Nearly 400,000 People Attend Show
Email
Print
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the Esplanade for Boston's Fourth of July concert and fireworks display.
The annual Pops show and fireworks display is one of the largest celebrations of the Fourth in the country. People rushed onto the grass in front of the Hatch Shell at 6 a.m. to secure a prime spot for the show, but speakers and large television screens were set up along the Charles River in Boston and Cambridge.
The event has become a tradition for many in the New England area and also draws others from across the country.
"Every year is different, and every year is the same," one man said. "You see the same people. You tell the same old stories. And it's like it's a reunion."
Although thunderstorms moved around Boston, they didn't hit during the festivities, keeping the crowd and musicians dry.
As always, a mix of talents were signed up for the show, including pop star Cyndi Lauper, entertainer Debbie Reynolds and folk singer Arlo Guthrie.
Reynolds sang songs recognizable to many of the older members of the audience, while an energetic Lauper cozied up to the crowd and Pops conductor Keith Lockhart while singing a trio of songs.
ABC News anchor Peter Jennings read patriotic writings, including a portion of the Declaration of Independence accompanied by the Pops.
"I am nervous, would you not be?" Jennings said before the show.
The show hit a high point when gospel singer Renese King sang a powerful spiritual during a reading of one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s letters.
Folksinger Arlo Guthrie sang "City of New Orleans" before singing one of his father's best-known songs, "This Land Is Your Land." Guthrie broke into the song with a story of how in school once, the children sang it, but he didn't know the words. He later had his father, Woody Guthrie, sing it for him.
About 6,000 fireworks lit the skies over the Charles River to cap the night.
While the grass in front of the Hatch Shell was completely covered with blankets, tents and tarps, boaters also found spots along the river, kept at a safe distance from the massive barge carrying the fireworks.
Festivities began earlier in the day, when a parade featuring performers dressed in colonial garb wound its way along Tremont Street, and the Declaration of Independence was read at Old City Hall.
Additional Resources
Copyright 2007 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
