Philadelphia's Fourth of July festivities focus on fun, safety

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Even before the clock struck noon on Tuesday, there had already been a slew of activities in Philadelphia to celebrate Independence Day. They all happened under the watchful eye of police and security officials who want to make sure that this year's festivities stay safe.

One of the first events to take place was the Celebration of Freedom program on the grounds outside of Independence Hall in Old City.

"We thought what better way to spend the fourth of them to come to the home of it all," said Steve Kern of Harrisburg as he watched the program with his family.

It's the same reason so many people flock to Philadelphia for Independence Day.

"There is no greater place to celebrate the fourth of joy than here in Philadelphia right at Independence Hall," said Gov. Josh Shapiro as he spoke to the crowd of hundreds including kids like Daniell Crawford who was excited for the day full of festivities.

"It's like New Year's Eve! Like it's like a big party and stuff," he said.

The program featured musical performances, speakers and Emmy-award-winning actress and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph, who recited a portion of the Declaration of Independence alongside two local students. Attendees were impressed by the program.

"I am so excited," said Anu Sheddy of Center City. "We just moved to Philly and we didn't want to miss the opportunity to be here."

An even larger-scale production is the Wawa Welcome America concert and fireworks show along the Ben Franklin Parkway. It requires a lot of coordination and security as police look to prevent a repeat of last year's July 4th shooting chaos when falling bullets grazed two police officers.

Everyone entering the concert on Tuesday-- had to first go through a metal detector and bag search. The city scheduled extra officers to protect the crowd and utilized trash trucks to block the streets.

This year, the concert area has been fenced in, so the only entry point for the concert is at Logan Circle, which is at 19th and Ben Franklin Parkway. Grammy-award-winning hip-hop artist, actor and philanthropist Ludacris is scheduled to perform at 7:40 p.m. Grammy-award-winning singer and author Demi Lovato is scheduled to perform at 8:30. The fireworks display starts at 9:40 p.m

Market Street, though, was a different story as it was open for the big Independence Parade. With performances from people including Miss America, the Independence Day Parade wowed the crowd.

"I'm in band in school. So this is amazing," said Drew Bell of Dallas as he watched the marching bands perform during the parade.

With rows of people waving American flags, the parade brought out everyone's patriotic side including one of America's newest citizens, Umberto Merroto, who moved to Philadelphia from Italy. He was on the sideline of the parade wearing a shirt with the print of the American flag.

"I'm going to become a citizen in like two days from now," he exclaimed happily.