Revelers across the US braved heat and heavy rain to take part in Fourth of July activities on Tuesday — celebrating the nation’s founding with parades, fireworks and hot dog eating contests.
In Boston, people dodged raindrops to nab a coveted space on the grassy oval in front of the Hatch Shell along the Charles River ahead of the traditional Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular.
Hundreds of thousands of partygoers typically line both sides of the river for the fireworks spectacular that follows a concert.
Photo: Reuters
At another longstanding celebration, fans of competitive eating crowded to watch Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest in the Coney Island section of New York City.
Heavy downpours interrupted the contest, but after the pause, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut swallowed 62 franks and buns in 10 minutes.
“What a roller coaster, emotionally,” Chestnut said.
Photo: Reuters
The 39-year-old from Westfield, Indiana, first competed for the title in 2005 and has not lost since 2015.
The unsettled weather moved on before the start of Macy’s annual Fourth of July fireworks show, which launched about 60,000 pyrotechnics into the sky, bursting in bouquets of colorful light over New York City’s East River.
New York was not the only state where weather factored into events.
The 10km Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race that typically draws thousands of runners in humid summer weather was cut short because of possible thunderstorms.
Farther north, a fireworks show in Yankton, South Dakota, was postponed because lightning prevented crews from setting up the display.
In Nebraska, the Omaha Symphony’s Independence Day Celebration that includes a concert and fireworks shows was also postponed.
New Orleans residents welcomed rain and slightly cooler conditions after days of heat and humidity baked the city.
The General Roy S. Kelley fireboat was returning to New Orleans Riverfront for a patriotic water show, sending streams of red, white and blue water into the air.
The Colorado towns and suburbs of Estes Park, Golden and Highlands Ranch canceled fireworks celebrations after thunderstorm alerts were issued.
Severe weather warnings scuttled Independence Day travel plans at Denver International Airport, where at least 290 flights were delayed and 171 canceled — among the most flights affected in the nation — Flight Aware data showed.
US President Joe Biden hosted a barbecue for military families at the White House, which was decked out with red, white and blue bunting, and big US flags draped over the columns facing the South Lawn.
Biden told the crowd how grateful he was for their service and talked about how important it was to work to unify the nation.
“Democracy is never guaranteed,” Biden said. “Every generation must fight to maintain it.”
Later, the Bidens watched fireworks from the White House balcony with thousands of guests on the lawn, as Louis Armstrong’s version of America the Beautiful played over loudspeakers.
Many people embraced the holiday with whimsy and a sense of community.
In Hannibal, Missouri, the hometown of Mark Twain, the Fourth of July weekend coincides with National Tom Sawyer Days. Fence-painting and frog-jumping contests were held.
Altoona, Iowa, dubbed its celebration “CORNival.”
In addition to the nod to the nation’s birthday, the festival marks the 100th anniversary of the first acre (0.4 hectares) of commercial hybrid seed corn, grown and harvested in Altoona in 1923.
Twenty 1.8m-tall fiberglass corn cob statutes decorated by local artists were unveiled and were to be placed around the town of 21,000 residents.
In Joppatowne, Maryland, hundreds of people lined up at a Sheetz gas station to pump regular fuel at US$1.776 per gallon (3.79 liters), WBAL-TV reported.
Sheetz set the price per gallon in commemoration of the year the Declaration of Independence was signed, a statement posted on the company’s Web site said.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
RSS