Americans have been setting off July Fourth fireworks for centuries. The first time the pyrotechnics were used was in 1777 as part of the first organized celebrations in Philadelphia and Boston. “The evening was closed with the ringing of bells, and at night there was a grand exhibition of fireworks (which began and concluded with thirteen rockets) on the Commons, and the city was beautifully illuminated,”The Pennsylvania Evening Post reported. Image: Wally McNamee / Contributor / Getty Images
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Every year, July Fourth rolls along with a bang, literally. According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, the country spent about $400 million on Fourth of July fireworks displays in 2022. Meanwhile, everyday consumers spent about $2.3 billion on fireworks. That’s a lot of fireworks. And, in 2026, that figure is likely to soar even higher since this year (as you’ve undoubtedly heard) is the United States’s 250th birthday celebration. Let’s hear it for the semiquincentennial!
The last big birthday the U.S. had was in 1976 for the country’s 200th. While this year is sure to look a lot different, here are some images of the fireworks, festivals, and fumbles of the United States of America’s 1976 bicentennial celebration almost 50 years ago.
To celebrate the bicentennial, the Cleveland Arcade was decorated with bunting and American flags in 1976. Built in 1890 and modelled after Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (completed in 1877), the arcade was one of the first covered shopping centers in the United States and was afforded National Historic Landmark status in 1975. Image: Contributor / Getty Images / Howard RuffnerOn July 4, 1976, Philadelphia hosted a massive bicentennial parade celebrating the country’s independence. Many dressed up for the festivities, including a veritable army of Uncle Sams. Image: Contributor / Getty Images / Henri BureauPresident Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States who served for only a single, partial term between 1974 and 1977 after Nixon’s resignation, dances with Queen Elizabeth II at the White House’s bicentennial ball. Image: Contributor / Getty Images / Photo 12Two women shop in a grocery store under a banner that reads: “Happy birthday America, there’s no place else we’d rather be!” to commemorate the United States’s bicentennial. Image: Universal History Archive / Contributor / Getty Images / Circa ImagesEvery July Fourth, thousands of parades happen all around the United States to celebrate the country’s birthday—1976 saw even more. Image: Contributor / Getty Images / Wally McNameeDr. James B. Rhoads, the fifth archivist of the United States of America, cuts a giant, red, white, and blue birthday cake honoring the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence during the American Bicentennial ceremonies in Washington. Image: Staff / Getty Images / Pictorial ParadeMany donned costumes for the 1976 bicentennial celebration. In this photograph, a costumed Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, and Spiderman pose together. Check out lady liberty’s pedestal feet! Image: Staff / Getty Images / Hulton ArchiveChildren in a bicentennial parade push a large paper mache apple pie in celebration of American independence, because nothing is quite as American as apple pie. Behind them other children are dressed in colonial garb. Image: Contributor / Getty Images / Wally McNameeThe United States wasn’t the only place to celebrate the 1976 bicentennial. In Paris, France, a parade marches through the Faubourg Saint-Honore neighborhood as part of the celebrations. Image: Stringer / Getty Images / KeystoneIn New York City, kids and families celebrate the U.S. bicentennial near the New York Harbor in Lower Manhattan on July 4, 1976. Image: Contributor / Getty Images / David AttieKing Juan Carlos I (left) and Queen Sofia (right) of Spain attend the Spanish Embassy’s bicentennial party on June 3, 1976 in Washington. Image: Contributor / Getty Images / Penske MediaThe Danmark, a Danish ship, is escorted by tugboats down the Hudson River near the George Washington Bridge along Manhattan on July 4, 1976. Image: Contributor / Getty Images / Newsday LLC
