Fireworks Near Me: Long Beach July 4th 2024 Events

LONG BEACH, CA — Independence Day is fast approaching so it's time to find out where you can celebrate in and around Long Beach. 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 Long Beach and the surrounding areas.

July 4 Festivities For 2024

LONG BEACH:

JULY 4: Justin Rudd's July 4th Great American Kids' Bike Parade.
Featuring a kid’s bike parade and patriotic costume and speech contests
to celebrate Independence Day and to help raise food donations for the
homeless.

JULY 4: 4th of July BBQ 2024: Aquarium of the Pacific. Tickets include all-day admission & lunch.
JULY 4: 4th of July Fireworks and Celebration 2024: The Queen Mary, Long Beach. The Queen is back!

BELMONT SHORE:

JULY 4: Justin Rudd's July 4th Great American Kids' Bike Parade.
Featuring a kid’s bike parade and patriotic costume and speech contests
to celebrate Independence Day and to help raise food donations for the
homeless.

CERRITOS:

JULY 4:July 4th 'Let Freedom Ring' Fest & Fireworks. With entertainment, games, rides and fireworks.
JULY 7: July 4th Freedom Fest & Fireworks: Cerritos College. Performances by Jeremy Camp, Marcos Witt, KB and Brennley Brown with food trucks and a firework show.

CATALINA ISLAND:

JULY 3-4: July 3nd-4th Fireworks, Festivities & Parade. Dinghy & golf-cart parades, children's festivals, fireworks & more will keep you busy!

See related: July 4th Fireworks 2024 In Los Angeles County

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.