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Independence Day Celebrations Come to Brooklyn

Fireworks Display Moves from Manhattan

Jul 4, 2008 Andrew Woolford

This Fourth of July, for the first time the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks will be launched from a barge off North 11th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

For thirty years Macy's has had its 4th of July Fireworks display in New York City making it a tradition among New Yorkers. The beautiful spectacle can be seen from anywhere in New York with an unobstructed view if the sky above the East River.

The display features more than 30,000 shells, 1,000 multi-colored explosions per minute and 120,000 splashes of color in the dark set to the rhythm of a patriotic soundtrack.

This U.S. Independence Day, for the first time a portion of the fireworks will be launched from a barge off North 11th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In years past, the city staged its show near the Water Club, on Manhattan's East Side.

Police barricades are lining up all around New York City to ease the traffic because the move from Manhattan means that more streets in Brooklyn - and fewer in Manhattan - will be closed on Friday, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Not to mention to maintain order as thousands of spectators who line up on the Brooklyn and Williamsburg Bridges to get a better view of the spectacle.

At a press conference on July 3rd, police officers urged New Yorkers to leave the fireworks display to the professionals.

The logistics for the show will be given a venue courtesy of columnist Norm Brodsky, founder of Citistorage, the largest stand-alone records storage facility in the nation.

For the past five years, the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) has positioned cameras on the roof of Citistorage because the building offers a great vantage point from which to view the pyrotechnical spectacle. This year Macy's decided to launch their fireworks from the site.

"It just makes sense for Brooklyn to have role in something as culturally significant as the Fourth of July fireworks," says Brodsky.

The Battle of Brooklyn was an important mark on the path to independence for the revolutionaries and for this spectacle to be launched from Brooklyn means a lot to Brodsky and other Brooklynites.

Although the fireworks will be launched from the barge, many of the computers and cables that synchronize the mammoth display will be housed in Citistorage, where President of Citistorage Louis Weiner gets to push the button launching the display.

The Macy's 4th of July Fireworks begins on Friday July 4th, 2008 at 9:00, and it will be aired on various channels. The theme this year will be "American Dances," and will last half an hour.

The event will celebrates the United States of America 232 years of independence since British colonial rule.

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