Not able to see last night’s Fourth of July fireworks over Lake Washington in downtown Kirkland?  Here’s a few minutes of the great show.  It was the first time I had seen the show from the water and it was terrific.  My friends came by and picked us up on their boat and we had a front row seat.  Out on the lake, you could see some of the fireworks from the other shows over in Seattle on Lake Union, the WaMU Family Fourth and theJul-Ivars Fourth in its 44th year over Elliot Bay.

Hold on!  Could it actually be sunny on the Fourth of July?  Could it be great weather to celebrate the outdoors?  It could be wonderful.  But now I’m hearing it could be damp and rainy. I’m heading to my 23rd Fourth of July in the Seattle area and have seen more cool and damp holidays than I care to remember.  I’ve heard more than once that  around Seattle, “Summer begins on July 5th.”  This week, starting with this past weekend, it appears that summer has arrived in full swing.  Let’s hope it stays this way for the fourth.

Here’s where you can spend your Fourth of July in the Seattle area:

If you want to travel across the lake, there are the two grandaddies of all the holiday celebrations:

WAMU Family Fourth:

Rated by Time Magazine as one of the “top five fireworks shows in the country.”

Enjoy food, a beer garden, Chinook helicopter fly-over and more.

Gas Works Park, 2101 Northlake Way

!2 noon with fireworks at 10 PM

Fourth of jul-Ivars

Come down to Eliot Bay to view the 44th annual Ivar’s fireworks show.

Fish and Fireworks is a special opportunity to watch the fireworks show from the Aquarium, enjoy the fish and sea life, and avoid the crowds and traffic.

Bellevue has the Symetra Fourth of July sponsored by Washington.

Bellevue Downtown Park from 6-10:30 PM.

Bothell’s Fourth of July celebration

Bothell starts the celebration on July 3rd with dances, pancacke breakfasts and a reenactment of the battle at the Concord bridge. 

Check out the City of Bothell website for more details.

 Kirkland starts its celebration in the morning.

This morning, The Seattle Times had a list of everything you can do on the Fourth all over Puget Sound.