Fourth of July celebrations: Americans celebrate US Independence Day with fireworks, parades and hot dogs
With backyard barbecues and fireworks, Americans celebrated Fourth of July by participating in time-honored traditions that expressed pride in their country’s 242nd birthday.
)
With backyard barbecues and fireworks, Americans celebrated their Independence Day by participating in time-honoured traditions that expressed pride in their country's 242nd birthday. AP
From New York to California, 4 July festivities ranged from the lively and to the lighthearted, with Macy's July fourth fireworks and Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest. AP
Visitors take a photo of one another as they wait with other spectators on the east side of Manhattan borough before a fireworks display. The Fourth of July holiday marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by congressional delegates in Philadelphia on 4 July, 1776. AP
More than two centuries later, however, it was the pursuit of hot dogs that defined the holiday at Coney Island on the waterfront of New York’s borough of Brooklyn, where Nathan’s Famous hot dogs and restaurants held its 46th annual hot dog-eating contest. AP
More than 3 million spectators and 12 million television viewers watched 75,000 shells illuminate the night sky over the East River in New York to the music of singer Kelly Clarkson. AP
Fireworks explode over Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and US Capitol, along the National Mall in Washington on Wednesday. AP
Children in costumes march down Main Street during the annual Fourth of July parade in Barnstable Village on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Reuters
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised the US military for keeping America 'safe, strong, proud, mighty and free' and used the Independence Day holiday to thank them for being willing to put their lives on the line in defense of the nation. AP