Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks will be held on the West Side again this year (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Televised live on NBC-TV
Broadcast live on WINS 1010
Sunday, July 4, free, 9:20 pm (approx.)
212-494-4495
www.macys.com/fireworks
After last year’s move to the West Side in honor of the four hundredth anniversary of Henry Hudson’s discovery of the Hudson River, Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks will stay on the Hudson for 2010, ready to set off more than forty thousand shells from a half dozen barges located between Twenty-fourth and Fiftieth Sts. over the course of twenty-six minutes. The theme of the thirty-fourth annual display is “American Harmony,” with a score performed by the New York Pops, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Straight No Chaser, Broadway Inspirational Voices, and the U.S. Army Soldier’s Chorus, with Justin Bieber and others scheduled to sing live on the Norwegian Epic cruise ship. The score can be downloaded here so you can listen along as the shells light up the sky. Vehicular traffic will be closed on the West Side Highway between Twenty-second and Fifty-ninth Sts. on Twelfth Ave., with viewing spots not available along the Hudson River Park promenade and bike path, and there will be extremely limited access to Piers 54 and 84.
Reaching a thousand feet high, this year’s fireworks, presented by SOUSA, will include blue jellyfish and the return of the ghost shells as well as an expanded version of the Golden Mile. Look for whistling dragons and screaming cicadas during “Stars & Stripes Forever,” silver domes, patriotic comets and daffodils and a cascading silver wall during “God Bless America,” rainbow fans and interlocking rings with sparkling centers during “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” chrysanthemum bursts, red umbrellas, geometric patterned loops, glittering coconuts, crackling salutes, spiders, and titanium crackers comets during the Armed Forces Medley, smiling faces and swimming bees during “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy,” green glimmer strobes and mosaic patterns during “Summertime,” rolling dice and cube shells during “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In,” fish, fireflies, and a red sparkling mile during “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and floral reports, bright lightning, titanium salutes, and more during the grand finale National Anthem.