Independence Day is marked with pomp

Americans celebrated their country’s 241st birthday with big-time fireworks, small-town parades and the quirky spectacle of competitive hot-dog eating. Tuesday’s festivities stretched from a picnic at the White House to a Utah ski town where residents ini

For all the pomp and celebration, July Fourth marks a day of shared traditions in a nation that has grappled with divides this past year. And in an era of concerns about security, the Independence Day celebrations were mixed with precautions.

Some highlights from around the world:

Lighting up the skies

In New York, throngs watched the annual Macy’s fireworks show, which involved 60,000 shells launched from up to five barges on the East River and performances by Jennifer Lopez, Sheryl Crow, Brad Paisley and others.

Organizers of Chicago’s Independence Day celebration expected such large crowds that the city’s Navy Pier opened at 10 a.m., nearly 12 hours before fireworks begin. Hundreds of thousands of people also attended Boston’s fireworks show and Boston Pops concert.

A first for the president

For President Donald Trump’s first Independence Day in office, he and first lady Melania Trump hosted a picnic for military families at the White House, followed by a fireworks viewing for military families and staffers.

Before the picnic, Trump kicked off his holiday at his golf club in Virginia. The president arrived at the club in Sterling just before 10 a.m. and spent nearly four hours there before returning to the White House. Aides did not answer questions about whether he was golfing.

Observing July Fourth overseas

Denmark hosted the Rebild Festival, considered one of the largest Fourth of July celebrations outside the United States. Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen — who recently tweeted that Trump “should tighten up, focus on the struggle for freedom and show respect for the presidency” in response to Trump’s own Twitter habit — told festival-goers that “when you are friends, you have the right to criticize.”

Samuelsen added, however, that it is “impossible” to live without the United States.

Visiting Afghanistan, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. said it was emotional and inspiring to spend July Fourth with troops.

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, led a group of senators to Pakistan and Afghanistan for the holiday weekend. They visited a military base in South Waziristan and met with Pakistani leaders in Islamabad before traveling to the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and David Perdue, R-Ga., were also on the trip.

How many hot dogs can a person eat?

Record-setting hot dog eater Joey “Jaws” Chestnut held onto his title at the annual July 4 hot dog eating contest at Nathan’s Famous in New York, breaking the record he set last year. The San Jose, Calif., man chowed down 72 hot dogs in 10 minutes, besting last year’s mark of 70.

Meanwhile, Miki Sudo notched a fourth straight win in the women’s division on the Coney Island boardwalk. The Las Vegas woman ate 41 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes.

Securing the celebrations

The New York Police Department stationed 100 vehicles to block intersections and 20 sand-filled sanitation trucks to fortify viewing areas for the Macy’s fireworks show. Heavily armed counterterrorism units mingled among spectators, officers deployed portable radiation detection devices and bomb-sniffing dogs, and officers were stationed on rooftops to look out for any sign of trouble.

In a somber observance of the toll of terror, small American flags were placed by all the nearly 3,000 names on the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York on Tuesday morning.

Home for the holiday

Residents of the southern Utah ski resort town of Brian Head held a fireworks-free celebration, having returned home just this past Friday after a wildfire forced evacuations in the town two weeks earlier.

“None of us even knew if we were going to be open for the Fourth of July,” Brian Head Resort spokesman Mark Wilder said. Brian Head is normally filled with vendors selling crafts and food on the holiday, one of the biggest celebrated at the resort and the start of the area’s festival season, Wilder said. But he said the town suspended its fireworks show this year because the area is still too dry and ripe for fires. “I’m sure people are disappointed with that, but better safe than sorry,” Wilder said.

MICHAEL NOBLE JR. / AP Miki Sudo celebrates her fourth Nathan’s Famous Hotdog eating contest win on Tuesday in Brooklyn, New York. Sudo won after eating 41 hotdogs and buns.