In Greater Boston, the Fourth of July includes a number of annual traditions: music at the Hatch Shell, the presentation of the Declaration of Independence, and the reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Boston, MA- 7/4/25- The gates opened at noon at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River, welcoming in thousands of attendees to the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular on July Fourth. Attendees bring umbrellas and tents to offer shade as they wait for the concert to begin at 7pm followed by fireworks. (Heather Diehl for the Boston Globe)

Holiday revelers say there’s no other place they’d rather be to celebrate America’s 249th birthday than Boston, coming out early and often for Fourth of July festivities.