At least one Founding Father had strong opinions about how America’s birthday should be celebrated every year ‘forever more.’
OCALA, Fla.—To boom or not to boom?
That is the question coordinators of big community events face nowadays in planning Independence Day festivities.
The tradition of shooting off booming fireworks annually to celebrate America’s birthday goes back as far as the nation itself.
Still, some celebration planners now prefer the newfangled buzz of twinkling drones darting through quiet skies to form intricate, animated shapes, such as a rotating Statue of Liberty, a soaring eagle with flapping wings, waving American flags, or a trio of saluting service members.
Many cities and towns have chosen in recent years to eschew explosions in favor of drones for an array of reasons.
On Independence Day in 2024, Ocala, Florida, presented a $71,000 drone show of nearly 10 minutes for its festivities, rather than opting for less-expensive fireworks.
The decision to offer the Patriotic Skies drone show came out of concern about how fireworks affect the environment, veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, and creatures terrified by the blasts, a news release explained.
The area, known for rolling hills dotted with horse farms, bills itself as the Horse Capital of the World. Horses startle easily and can become sick or injure themselves when stressed.
On July 2, the worry of fireworks danger was reignited after an explosion at a warehouse in Yolo County, a rural area in northern California.
A sudden barrage of blasts from fireworks stored there collapsed a building, caused a fire to spread to neighboring farm fields, and forced evacuations in the surrounding community, authorities said.
At the time of publication, at least seven people were still missing. Drones flown by emergency crews swooped over the area in the hopes of finding victims of the fireworks accident, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
