NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Look no further than the Hub City for a top-of-the-line Fourth of July celebration.

Actually, the festivities begin July 2.

New Brunswick plans to observe Independence Day at 6 p.m. Sunday in Boyd Park, according to the city. Tempo Alegre and Once Again Band are each lined up play for the riverfront crowd.

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Later, at 9:20 p.m., a fireworks show will occur over the Raritan River. That’s a joint production put on by New Brunswick and Highland Park.

If you plan to go, feel free to bring a blanket or chair. Public parking is available in the Rutgers Public Safety building parking deck on Neilson Street, and handicapped parking is available in Boyd Park, according to the city.

The celebration continues two days later, at 2 p.m. July 4, when the New Brunswick Historical Society hosts a reenactment of George Washington’s “Feu de Joie”—or “Fire of Joy”—salute in Boyd Park, according to the city.

That event will pay homage to the July 4, 1778 Feu de Joie that took place in New Brunswick. It included a 2-mile line of soldiers—stretching from what was called Sonman’s Hill and is now part of Douglass Campus to the White Farm, which is now Buccleuch Park. Ordered by the general, the performance was meant to honor the army’s fight against the British in Monmouth County and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, according to the city.

Attendees may once again bring blankets and chairs.





Finally, at noon July 9, a sculpture of Col. John Neilson will be unveiled by New Brunswick Public Sculpture in Monument Square Park. He held the third reading of the Declaration of Indepence—way back on July 9, 1776—as he stood on a tavern table. (It’s possible a few buzzed history majors have reenacted that, to less publicity, in the past.)