New Brunswick's Fourth Of July Fireworks Will Be July 2

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — New Brunswick will celebrate Independence Day with live music and a fireworks display over the Raritan River on Sunday, July 2. Music will begin at 5 p.m. at Boyd Park with performances by “Tempo Alegre” and “Once Again Band.” (The rain date for fireworks is Monday, July 3.)

At 9:20 p.m. attendees will turn their eyes to the sky over the Raritan River to watch a joint fireworks display between New Brunswick and Highland Park. Attendees are encouraged to bring a chair or a blanket for seating. Public parking is available in the nearby Rutgers Public Safety building parking deck on Neilson Street. Handicapped parking is available in Boyd Park.

On July 4, the New Brunswick Historical Society will host a historic re-enactment of George Washington’s feu de joie or “Fire of Joy” salute at Buccleuch Park, the actual grounds and date on which the salute was carried out 239 years ago.

The original New Brunswick feu de joie on July 4, 1778 entailed a two-mile line of soldiers from Sonman’s Hill (now Douglass Campus at Rutgers University) to the White Farm (now Buccleuch Park) and a nearby artillery park. Washington ordered its performance in New Brunswick to celebrate the Army’s performance at the Monmouth County Courthouse (now Freehold) against a British attack and commemorate the second anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The program will begin at 1:30 p.m. and is open to the public. Spectators are encouraged to bring blankets and chairs for seating.

At noon on Sunday, July 9, New Brunswick Public Sculpture will unveil a sculpture of Col. John Neilson in Monument Square. On July 9, 1776, Col. John Neilson conducted the third reading of the Declaration of Independence in the New Brunswick while standing on a tavern table. The statue commemorates that historic reading during the year of our nation’s founding.