The stormy skies and downpours have become as much a part of the region’s recent Fourth of July tradition as parades and sparklers. But for the third straight year, festivities including the National Independence Day Parade and evening fireworks on the Mall went off as planned.
“This is my first parade, so I don´t know what to expect,” said 9-year-old North Carolina, as she waited excitedly along Constitution Avenue Northwest for the event to begin. “I hope there are horses, because I really like horses.”
Alex got her wish shortly before noon as a procession of Metropolitan Police Department officers on motorcycles, bagpipe players and a line of Clydesdale horses started the parade.
Fireworks lit the overcast sky shortly after 9 p.m. in a burst of red streamers as rock ’n’ legend Jerry Lee Lewis played his piano and belted out his 1957 hit “Great Balls of Fire” - but not before what has become the traditional downpour.
“I’ve never danced in the rain to Rick Herman. “This is a first for me.”
The heaviest of the rains reached the District at about 6 p.m., sending thousands of visitors scurrying under trees and into the Smithsonian museums that border the nearly 2-mile-long Mall.
Police officers said the steady flow of visitors coming to the Mall at that point became a steady flow of visitors leaving the Mall.
However, the lightning, thunder and heavy winds last year that briefly closed the Mall, flipped tents, flooded streets and nearly canceled the fireworks stayed south of the city.
Getting onto the Mall this year at the 18 designated checkpoints presented few problems and short waits for most visitors.
“Every year we’ve made it a little more easier and a little more convenient,” said Sgt. Robert LaChance, a Park Police spokesman, who emphasized that safety was still the key issue.
Metropolitan police last night reported no incidents.
Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein also reported no problems about an hour before the fireworks started.
“Everything is going well,” she said.
The agency reported 402,163 riders as of 8 p.m., compared to 362,308 at that time last year.
The overcast skies kept temperatures in the 80s and helped minimize heat-related problems. The National Weather Service reported a high of 88 degrees, as a result of a stalled stationary front from the North that is expected to stay in the region through the weekend.
Alan Etter, spokesman for the D.C. fire and emergency services department, reported no major incidents, with 11 people as of early last night taken to hospitals for minor problems.
The wait to get on the West Lawn of the Capitol for the Capitol Fourth concert was at times two hours long, police said.
The annual event was hosted this year by actor Huey Lewis, who got the crowd going early with lively renditions of his hits “Heart of Rock and Roll” and “Power of Love.”
“The performers are great,” said American Idol,” so it was nice to see him.”
The National Symphony took the stage shortly after dusk, playing Washington Monument.
The parade also included actors dressed as U.S. and D.C. flags.
“The marching bands are what makes it a parade,” said Mount Rushmore across the front and back.
It was hard to miss the inflatable float version of Uncle Sam´s famous hat, a bald eagle with starred-and-striped wings, Underdog and a pirouetting Hello Kitty.
Iwo Jima.”
Performances by Japanese Americans, “Vietnamese Americans Celebrating Freedom” and Hare Krishnas reminded those in attendance of America´s diversity.
“It’s all the excitement and the different cultures in the parade that I like,” said 9-year-old Charlotte, N.C.
Tommy Grove, a 33-year-old Army helicopter pilot from Rochester, N.Y., remarked about the tight security but said he appreciated it.
“I love everything in D.C. because it’s free,” he added.
Other Fourth of July events around the region included the annual Palisades parade in Northwest and the scheduled Vienna fireworks display, which this year was a laser light show. Eleven people were injured there in a fireworks accident last year.
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