July 4th 2024 Fireworks, Events Around Newton

NEWTON, MA — Independence Day is fast approaching so it's time to find out where you can celebrate in and around Newton. 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 Newton and the surrounding areas.

July 4 Festivities For 2024

What: Newton July 4 Fireworks
Where: Albemarle Park
When: 9 p.m.

The fireworks at Halloran Field — which begin about 9:10 p.m. — cap a day of fun at Albemarle Park beginning at 1 p.m. that includes carnival rides, games, food, live music and an open-air market.

The main stage will include music from the Kat Chapman Band at 5:30 and East Coast Soul at 7.

There will also be a Newton Centre Kids Playground morning of activities from 10 a.m. to noon at the Bowl off Tyler Terrace that includes free ice cream from Cabot's Ice Cream.

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.