AFTER YEAR IN PANDEMIC, AMERICANS CELEBRATE WITH A BANG

NEW YORK—Americans mark their nation’s 245th birthday on Sunday with fireworks that may look brighter, hotdogs that may taste juicier and marching bands that may sound jauntier after the pandemic forced the cancellation of nearly all celebrations last year.

As always, fireworks displays are the highlight of the July Fourth holiday. Two of the biggest pyrotechnic shows in the country will blast off over the National Mall in Washington, and over a mile stretch of New York City’s East River, separating Manhattan from the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn.

Some classic July Fourth events such as Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Brooklyn’s Coney Island remain scaled back to allow for social distancing in recognition of the continued threat of the COVID-19 coronavirus, which has killed more than 600,000 Americans. The more aggressive Delta variant has raised alarms about the potential for another surge among the unvaccinated.

Even so, this holiday is a time for Americans to show their patriotism and to celebrate a fresh sense of freedom in a personal sense by mingling with friends once again and enjoying summer’s simple pleasures.

This weekend is expected to be the busiest July Fourth road travel holiday on record—with an estimated 43.6 million Americans behind the wheel, or 5 percent more than a previous record set in 2019, the American Automobile Association said.

Aleksandra Magidoff, a 12-year-old from Brooklyn, is headed to a New Jersey suburb to reconnect with a lifelong friend and her family. They were among the more than 3.5 million people who have moved out of New York, once the US epicenter of COVID-19, since the pandemic started in the spring of 2020.

Gorging on hamburgers

“I’m so excited—I can talk to them and celebrate with them and just socialize!” said Magidoff, who was fully vaccinated under the enormous blue whale model at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The girls plan to gorge on “a bunch of hamburgers and hotdogs” before taking in the fireworks show at a New Jersey fairgrounds, she said.

In Washington, President Joe Biden plans a 1,000-person July Fourth celebration on the White House lawn with essential workers and military families.

Elsewhere in Washington on Sunday, marching bands will return for a traditional parade on Capitol Hill’s Barracks Row.

—AFP INDEPENDENCE Children play in a fountain near a sign that’s part of the decor for the “Portraits of Freedom: Building a Life in LA” outdoor art exhibition in Los Angeles in celebration of the July 4 Independence Day holiday.