Fireworks, parades, salutes mark holiday Oldest warship
NEW YORK — With backyard barbecues and fireworks, Americans celebrated Independence Day by participating in time-honored traditions that expressed pride in their country's 242nd birthday.
But this quintessential American holiday was being marked with a sense of a United States divided for some, evidenced by competing televised events in the nation's capital.
From New York to California, July Fourth festivities ranged from the lively and to the lighthearted.
Here are some highlights of Wednesday's festivities:
The USS Constitution has sailed in Boston Harbor and fired its guns again to mark Independence Day.
The world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat left its berth at the Charlestown Navy Yard on Wednesday morning. It glided through the harbor to mark 242 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The ship, nicknamed Old Ironsides, traveled to Fort Independence on Castle Island to fire a 21-gun salute. The ship's commander saluted the crowds gathered there.
A historic parade
Crowds lined the streets in a Rhode Island town to see what's billed as the nation's oldest continuous Fourth of July celebration. Begun in 1785, the Bristol parade typically attracts about 100,000 people to the seaside town.
This year's was a scorcher: Temperatures hovered near 90 degrees when the parade began late Wednesday morning, and some marchers were treated for heat exhaustion and taken off the route.
Dueling celebrations
The country's longestrunning live national July Fourth television tradition is PBS' broadcast of music and fireworks from the U.S. Capitol's West Lawn. But it's facing new counterprogramming this year from the White House, which is hosting its own concert and view of the National Park Service's fireworks show.
PBS' "A Capitol Fourth" has the bigger stars, including The Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffett, Pentatonix, Chita Rivera, Luke Combs and The Temptations. It will be hosted by John Stamos.
The entertainers on the 90-minute White House event airing on the Hallmark Channel include singer-songwriter Sara Evans, pianist Lola Astanova and two former "American Idol" finalists. Both shows will include the fireworks display from the National Park Service.
Lighting up the night skies
Some places in the American West have canceled July Fourth fireworks because of high wildfire danger, and others are doing drone light displays instead of pyrotechnics.
In Colorado, the wildfire danger forced some communities to cancel their fireworks. However, other shows will still go as planned in Denver, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins.
New Americans, divided America
This was the first Fourth of July that many people were able to call themselves U.S. citizens after participating in naturalization ceremonies across the country.
In New Hampshire, more than 100 people from 48 countries became U.S. citizens during a ceremony at the Strawbery Banke museum in Portsmouth as part of the museum's annual American Celebration.
A ceremony also was held aboard the USS New Jersey, where dozens of people from countries including Vietnam and Bangladesh were sworn in.
Several people were arrested Wednesday after hanging a banner from the Statue of Liberty's pedestal that called for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Later, a protester climbed the statue's base, forcing the evacuation of Liberty Island, and stayed there for hours before police removed her.
LGBTQ parade participants
Utah LGBTQ groups marched for the first time in a prominent July Fourth festival in the conservative city of Provo after years of organizers blocking them from participating.
The groups were met by cheers and rainbow flags as they marched Wednesday morning in the America's Freedom Festival parade.
Participants included a center for LGBTQ youth and an organization that works to bridge divides between the LGBTQ community and the Mormon church.