This Saturday is the Fourth of July and folks will be celebrating the declaration of our independence everywhere. This article is our collection of fun, useful and interesting links to Fourth of July everything. We’ll begin with local celebration locations and follow that with some web pages with Fourth of July related content. Follow this link to find everything…

Where to Find the Fun

Some folks host small, family-related activities in their own yard. Others gather in a street or neighborhood party. If you’d like to venture out to a more public venue to have some fun and celebrate the holiday, this is your list! We’ll begin with events that include fireworks and work our way to more simple celebrations.

Mount Vernon presents An American Celebration featuring made-for-daytime fireworks!

Just One Fireworks Display by Park Authority – details at FairfaxCounty.gov.
Click here for more about Lake Fairfax.

Fourth of July in the City of Fairfax from FairfaxVA.gov.
Parade Line-up.
Evening Show and Fireworks.

The Fourth at The Fort – activities at Fort Belvoir from BelvoirMWR.com

Herndon Fourth of July Celebration from Herndon-VA.gov.

McLean July Fourth Celebration at McLeanCenter.org.

Events Without Fireworks

Lee District Park offers Fourth of July Concert – details at FairfaxCounty.gov.

Vienna July Fourth Festival from ViennaVA.gov.

Our List of Lists

The following links will open pages that provide comprehensive lists of local events. Most of those events you will find through the direct links, above, but there might be a surprise or two in the links below:

July 4 Festivals from NorthernVirginiaMag.com

List of events and schedules at FairfaxCounty.gov

Having a Safe Fourth

Fourth of July Fireworks Safety at FairfaxCounty.gov.

The National Council on Fireworks Safety.

Food and Outdoor Party Ideas

Fourth of July Party – easy menus from RachaelRayMag.com.

Easy Backyard Entertaining – RealSimple.com.

Fourth of July Menu from Cooking Light.

Interesting recipe from Whole Foods for watermelon lemonade – would that be melonade?

Did You Know…

It’s been more than 200 years since our founding fathers declared independence. In all that time much history and interesting trivia have developed. This is our collection of fun, entertaining and educational nuggets of knowledge about the Fourth of July.

The Original Declaration of Independence at Archives.gov
You can read the entire transcript of the Declaration plus see a photograph (click the”view larger image” button) of the original document secured at the National Archives.

July Fourth, 1776 was just the beginning. The Library of Congress provides a variety resources to help us understand the entire, lengthy process that resulted in the final Declaration. Follow these links for details…

Timeline of the process to draft the final Declaration document.

Thomas Jefferson’s process of drafting the documents.

Click here to see objects from the process including letters and personal notes.

National Archives Annual July 4th Celebration. No, it’s not in Fairfax County, but if you are headed to the National Mall, this is a convenient (and air conditioned) destination. Watch the video from 2008 and then click the link to learn more.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Entertainment, Food. Both comments and pings are currently closed.