Millions of people in the US celebrated under heat warnings as they flocked to beaches and travelled to toast their nation’s birth with July 4 parades, cookouts and fireworks.
Travel records were projected to fall with people jamming airports and crowding highways to reach Thursday’s Independence Day celebrations, which will stretch into a long weekend for many.
On the east coast, beachgoers in Connecticut were turned away as parking at state parks along the shore filled to capacity, including a two-mile stretch at Hammonasset Beach State Park — the state’s largest shoreline beach.
Across the west, people dealt with stifling conditions as the National Weather Service warned of a “significant and extremely dangerous” heat wave across much of the region.
A heat advisory in Philadelphia did not stop crowds from gathering at historic sites in the city where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4 1776.
Evening fireworks were scheduled over the Benjamin Franklin Parkway after a concert by Ne-Yo and Kesha.
Fireworks crackled in backyard displays and an anticipated 16,000 professional shows were planned to light up the horizon from sea to shining sea.
“This is how we celebrate. It’s the bombs bursting in air. It’s the rockets’ red glare. That’s how people show their pride and patriotism,” said Julie Heckman of the American Pyrotechnics Association.
The Transportation Security Administration reported that a record of nearly three million people travelled through airports in a single day last week, a figure expected to be broken this week.
The American Automobile Association projected that 60.6 million people will travel by car during the holiday period.
On much of the west coast, people were advised to take precautions to avoid overheating on the holiday.
Temperatures topped 43C on Thursday in inland areas of northern California with heat spreading into the Pacific Northwest. Some spots in the desert southwest were expecting temperatures topping 49C. Hot, muggy conditions also permeated the Deep South and Middle Atlantic.
The northern California city of Oroville’s annual fireworks were cancelled as an estimated 17,000 residents remained under evacuation orders or warnings while hundreds of firefighters toiled under extreme heat to keep flames from reaching more homes.
In suburban Chicago, Highland Park resumed its annual Independence Day Parade on the second anniversary of a mass shooting that took seven lives and injured dozens at the 2022 event.
People gathered at a middle school for a remembrance on Thursday before the holiday march, which followed a different route than in the past.
The holiday celebrating the establishment of a new country, free from British rule, is traditionally marked by barbeques, cold drinks and the Stars and Stripes on flagpoles and on clothing, in addition to parades.
But Americans were also celebrating in other ways unique to their communities.
The annual hot dog eating contest on New York’s Coney Island saw Patrick Bertoletti of Chicago gobble down 58 hot dogs to win his first men’s title.
In Alaska, the city of Seward got a head start with a fireworks display at midnight, as thousands of people gathered on a rocky beach to watch during the brief window where the sky dims in the land of the midnight sun.
The shells burst over Resurrection Bay as people watched in silence. “It was absolutely magical,” said resident Iris Woolfolk.