July 4th 2024 Fireworks, Events Around Joliet

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

July 4 Festivities For 2024

What: City of Joliet's 4th of July Fireworks

Where: Joliet's Memorial Stadium

When: Fireworks will start at 9 p.m.

The stadium will open at 6 p.m. Alcohol and grilling are prohibited, according to the Joliet Park District and blankets are allowed. Lawn chairs and coolers are not allowed. The event is free to attend.

In addition: there will be the annual Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park Independence Celebration on Wednesday, July 3, at 201 West Jefferson St. There will be food vendors and alcohol will be sold. People can bring lawn chairs, bag chairs and blankets. No grills or tents. There is free parking on the surrounding streets and at Bicentennial Park.

When: 6 to 10 p.m. and the fireworks will be launched over downtown Joliet's Des Plaines River at 9:30 p.m. There will be live music on two stages and there's free admission. The Righteous Hillbillies play from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and the Flatbed Fords from 8:30 to 10 p.m. at the pavilion.

In the South River Lot: Tamara Martinez plays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and Velvet Rose Band plays from 8:30 to 10 p.m.

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Plainfield Fireworks, Food Truck Festival: Road Closures To Expect

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.