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, 2022

Annual Boston Harborfest Celebration

Taking place July 1-4, the 2022 Boston Harborfest is a family-friendly event that includes historical reenactments, live music, parades and a fireworks display over Boston Harbor on July 2nd.

Boston Harborfest

Monday, July 4, 2022

2022 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular

The Boston Pops July 4th Spectacular is slated to take place at the Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade starting at 8:00pm. Keith Lockhart will lead a program featuring the Boston Pops orchestra with music icon Chaka Khan, along with Javier Colon and Heather Headley. Special guests also include the Honor Guard of the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Regiment, Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes & Drums, and Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

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

July 4th Events

Boston Common Visitor Center - Open Daily

The Boston Common Visitor Center is Open Daily! While visiting Boston, visit our Information Centers to book tours, buy souvenirs, and get general information on Boston and the region. HOURS OF OPERATION: Daily, 8:30am - 5:00 pm

Freedom Trail Foundation Virtual Programs

The Freedom Trail® and Black Heritage Trail® have rich opportunities for everyone to learn and experience Boston’s history remotely. Freedom Trail official historic sites, the Museum of African American History, and Freedom Trail Foundation provide existing and new online...

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 uses the Museum's collections, archives, and online content to explore the lesser known corners of “Old Ironsides'” history for a virtual audience. A Sailor's Life For Me Online...

King's Chapel - Guided Crypt and Sanctuary Tours

Guided by our team of knowledgeable and passionate Historic Site Educators, tours lead visitors through multiple levels of this National Historic Landmark along Boston's Freedom Trail, and through over 330 years of Boston history, through the lens of King's Chapel and its...

Freedom Trail

The famous Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile red-brick trail through Boston’s historic neighborhoods that tells the story of the American Revolution.

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, 2022. Or experience past readings of The Declaration of Independence through this link on YouTube, and in the video below by Burkco Video.