Macy's promised to celebrate the country's 230th birthday with a "rumble to remember.''
And it certainly did. The 30th Annual Macy's Fourth of July fireworks show lit up the city's night sky Tuesday, remembering the country's Independence Day in dazzling fashion.
Awed spectators crowded highways, rooftops, balconies and parks along the East River to watch the approximately 30-minute extravaganza, billed as the largest fireworks display in the country.
More than 120,000 bursts of color, light and pyrotechnics filled the darkness as The New York Pops regaled the crowd with a soundtrack of patriotic standards and original music charting America's evolution.
Red, white and blue figured prominently in the display, of course, but so did Macy's signature Golden Mile, a multilayered firing of gold stretching 1,200 feet into the air from the water's edge.
"I never miss it. It's a tradition,'' said Rafael Perez, 21, one of tens of thousands of people who mobbed the South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan to watch the show.
There were five tugboat-powered fireworks barges, each about 350 to 500 feet long: three along the East River, one at the seaport and one between Ellis Island and Liberty Island in New York Harbor.
The fireworks erupted about 9:30 p.m. and could be seen from any place in Manhattan, Brooklyn or Queens with an unobsructed view of the sky above the river.
The colorful pyrotechnic spectacular consisted of 36,000 shells, more than 1,000 shells bursting a minute, according to Macy's. The shells were timed to fire to the beat of the music, including such tunes as ``New York, New York.''
Even with all the color and ceremony, Hank Saltzman said the annual display was about more than just the fireworks.
"The main thing is the people...they're from all over the world,'' he said. |
