Q: This is a very stupid question on my part since I've lived here in Chicago my entire life, but when does Chicago have its downtown fireworks display? I think it's on July 3rd, but I don't remember.
A: Definitely there are fireworks in Chicago.....on July 3rd, Chicago's lakefront holds its Pre-Independence Day Fireworks Spectacular during the Taste of Chicago festival that is just near the lakefront, in downtown Chicago (just near the Buckingham Fountain and Grant Park). Also..... The suburbs of Chicago...almost all suburb cities around Chicago....host smaller fireworks displays on July 3rd and or July 5th as well as July 4th....always. But the big bang as far as fireworks extravaganzas in Chicago on the 4th of July (although it is on the 3rd) is the one at Navy Pier and Monroe Harbor. Navy Pier also holds a fireworks display on the 4th also. A few facts about the 3rd of July fireworks extravaganza.... 1. The fireworks show would usually start with the 1812 Overture "cannon finale"....that is the last part of the overture when the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra ends its Pre 4th-of-July concert at the Petrillo Band Shell (just near Grant Park) that leads to the fireworks. The "cannons" used in Tschaikovsky's "noisiest overture" is mimicked by fireworks during the overture's "cannon finale"....the fireworks used in this case are the 1.2 G shells.....usually 64-inch titanium salutes that are filled with the most black powder that will create the loudest "booming" salute reports in the air....so loud that you think the "boom" came from a cannon. No actual field cannons are used....but for the Washington D.C. celebration, real cannons as well as fireworks are used for the 1812 Overture done by the Washington D.C. Symphony Orchestra for their "Capital Fourth." 2. The actual fireworks show used to be "traditional displays" without music...but now, the display is now set to music. 3. The display is brought by Melrose Pyrotechnics, mainly. 4. The total number of shells started with 3,000-5,000 in past years, but now, about 10,000 to 18,000 shells are used in the fireworks show. 5. The show lasts from about 15 to 18 minutes.
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