4th of July in Boston | History, Concerts & Fireworks

Attend the best birthday party in the country! Boston celebrates the 4th with spectacular fireworks, historical reenactments & more!

July 1 - 4, 2021

Annual Boston Harborfest Celebration

Taking place July 1-4, the 2021 Boston Harborfest is a family-friendly event that includes historical reenactments, live music, parades and a fireworks display over Boston Harbor on July 3rd.

Boston Harborfest

Sunday, July 4, 2021

2021 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular

The Boston Pops July 4th Spectacular will take place at Tanglewood, where Keith Lockhart will lead a live televised and live streamed performance of patriotic favorites, with special appearances by Jon Batiste, bandleader of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and legendary singer Mavis Staples. The fireworks finale—to take place from the Boston Common in partnership with the City of Boston—will also be broadcast as part of the live-streamed performance.

Television Broadcast: On Sunday, July 4, 8-11 p.m., the program will be broadcast live on Bloomberg TV and radio, as well as locally in Boston on WHDH-TV Channel 7, with the fireworks finale 10:30-11 p.m.

Please note: There are no official public viewing areas on Boston Common, but the fireworks will be visible from Parade Ground (corner of Charles and Beacon), Frog Pond, and other areas with sightlines to the Boston Common. View map.

Pops performance with band and singer on large stage in Boston MA

Events & Activities

1776 The Musical

They knew they would make history, but not what history would make of them. Fed up with living under...

Freedom Trail Foundation Resources

This Day in History videos provide mini-history lessons for each day of the year by typing in the...

Freedom Trail Foundation Virtual Programs

The Freedom Trail® and Black Heritage Trail® have rich opportunities for everyone to learn and...

GPS Self-Guided Audio Tours

Turn your phone into a personal tour guide! Action Tour Guide provides self-guided audio tours;...

Historian at Home: Online game, A Sailor's Life For Me

The USS Constitution Museum presents a weekly video series with Public Historian Carl Herzog. Carl...

USS Constitution Public Tours

USS Constitution is open for public tours! We are open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6...

Freedom Trail

Enjoy Freedom Trail Foundation resources - access to history lesson videos and audio guides of the Freedom Trail.

Action Tour Guide offers a GPS self-guided audio tour of Boston's Freedom Trail, fully narrated mobile apps available for download.

Freedom Trail Map

Map of the Freedom Trail

Reading of the Declaration of Independence

You can hear the Declaration of Independence read from the balcony of the Old State House —by the current Captain Commanding of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company—just as it was read to the citizens of Boston on July 18, 1776.

You can attend this year's reading at Harborfest on July 4, 2021. Or experience past readings of The Declaration of Independence through this link on YouTube, and in the video below by Burkco Video.