Fireworks Near Me: Newport July 4th 2024 Events

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

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July 4 Festivities For 2024

What: Newport Fireworks

Where: Newport Harbor

When: 9:15 p.m. July 4

Find a westward facing spot along Newport Harbor for best viewing. Popular viewing locations include Perrotti Park, King Park, and Queen Anne Square. The rain date is July 5.

What: Portsmouth Fireworks

Where: Escobar Farm, Portsmouth

When: 9:30 p.m. July 5

Portsmouth celebrates Independence Day, each year, with the annual fireworks display put on by the Escobar family at their Middle Road farm on July 5. The back area of the property is the perfect vantage point for viewing the fireworks

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.

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