OCEAN CITY, Md. - Ocean City lit up the night sky with two simultaneous fireworks displays on Thursday, July 4th, in celebration of our nation’s Independence Day. Locals and visitors brought their family and friends, beach chairs, and blankets to watch the fireworks sparkle over the beach and the bay.
Lucian Phillip shared his excitement, saying, “The best thing here is that you can see the fireworks on the boat. If you have one, I think it's the best thing ever.”
The northern celebration at Northside Park, 125th Street and the bay, kicked off at 8:00 p.m. with DJ musical entertainment, followed by a spectacular fireworks display at 9:30 p.m.
On the south end of town, guests headed to Ocean City’s Boardwalk for bright lights, an assortment of food, family fun, and more. This celebration started with a DJ at 8:00 p.m. on the beach at Caroline Street, with the official fireworks show beginning at 10:00 p.m.
Parking operations for the Inlet Parking Lot remained the same for the holiday, with the parking rate increasing to $5 per hour for the day. The town of Ocean City reminded everyone that parking was extremely limited at both fireworks locations and significant traffic delays were expected after both shows.
Bob Brenner, who runs part of the parking in Ocean City, noted, “In the blink of an eye. We had a batch of people come in earlier today and some of them are starting to head home. They want to avoid the traffic jam there. There's always occurred on the evening of the 4th of July."
Whether someone was watching from the beach, on a boat, or on the bridge, they were bound to have a great view of the Fourth of July fireworks.
“It’s great meeting with people and people are patriotic and waving our great symbol of freedom. And that's the American flag,” Brenner added.