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US celebrates 232nd anniversary

Fireworks explode over the Iwo Jima memorial and the National Mall in Washington on Friday during July the Fourth Independence Day celebrations. PHOTO: EPA

The US’ biggest fireworks display exploded in a spectrum of color over New York, temporarily stealing the spotlight from the city’s world-famous skyline and helping to create a brilliant end to a day of Fourth of July celebrations nationwide.

On the 232nd anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, spectators thronged the riverfront in a light rain, some holding red, white and blue umbrellas, while Boy Scouts in Hartford, Connecticut, rang a replica of the Liberty Bell.

Near Kissimmee, Florida, a wounded bald eagle, the national bird, was flying free after spending more than two months rehabilitating from a fight with another eagle. It was freed Thursday in Lake Tohopekaliga, the heart of Florida’s eagle country.

In Boston, the 211-year-old USS Constitution, the Navy’s oldest commissioned warship, was the backdrop on Friday morning as two dozen people were sworn in as US citizens.

US Vice President Dick Cheney greeted the new Americans and later, in a second ceremony, administered the re-enlistment oath to a group of servicemen.

Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi, left, poses for photographs with last year’s hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut, of San Jose, California, during a news conference for the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest on Thursday in New York. PHOTO: AP

The Hartford ceremony was among several similar events being held across the country on Friday by a group known as Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Thirteen peals, one for each of the original colonies, rang out from a replica Liberty Bell at the State Capitol.

US President George W. Bush saluted new citizens at a naturalization ceremony in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he was interrupted on several occasions by protesters calling for his impeachment.

North Carolina’s two major military bases planned big events to honor troops. Country star Wynonna Judd was to perform at Fort Bragg and the Marines were hosting her contemporary Lee Ann Womack at Camp Lejeune.

In Fairmont, West Virginia, gymnastics legend Mary Lou Retton was honored by her hometown with a parade and concert. She rode down streets in the cherry picker bucket of a fire truck, just as she did in 1984, when she was 16 and a new hometown hero.

Near Cincinnati, a daredevil walked 610m across a cable suspended high off the ground in an amusement park.

Rick Wallenda is the grandson of Karl Wallenda, patriarch of the “Flying Wallendas” high-wire act, who fell to his death trying to walk a cable in Puerto Rico in 1974.

Rick Wallenda, 53, completed the feat using a balancing pole and without a safety net or harness.

“I think my granddad would be proud,” Wallenda said.

After dark, more than 3 million people were expected to attend the fireworks display along New York’s East River, moved south this year so onlookers would get a better view of the city skyline.

Organizers said this year’s show, broadcast on NBC, would include new nautical fireworks that float on the water. Other new shells would go through multiple transformations after they launch, providing four different effects.

And it would not be July Fourth without the annual hot-dog eating competition at Coney Island in New York. This year was another heartbreaker for longtime champion Takeru Kobayashi of Nagano, Japan.

He was trying to reclaim his title after a disappointing three-dog loss last year to Californian Joey Chestnut shattered his six-year winning streak. But it was not to be: Chestnut made it two wins in a row, beating Kobayashi in a tiebreaker.
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