Crowds gathered at Jones Beach on Saturday evening ahead of the fireworks show scheduled to begin about 9:30, even as weather moving toward Long Island put July Fourth displays across the region on edge. On the boardwalk, the mood was part holiday outing, part race against the sky.
Chris Dimatteo of Queens Village brought his children to Jones Beach for the display and said he came later in the day when the weather got cooler. “It’s exciting to see, and you don’t get to see it in person like this, the way it’s gonna be tonight,” he said. “I think it’s a beautiful thing.”
That anticipation mattered because holiday crowds were already building across Long Island on a weekend when temperatures had been oppressive and incoming weather was altering plans elsewhere. The Macy's 4th of July fireworks were set to begin at 9:02 p.m. instead of closer to 9:30 because of incoming weather, and Riverhead Town moved its show at South Jamesport Beach up to 9 p.m. from 9:30 p.m. for the same reason.
Radar showed a line of thunderstorms heading toward the area, and a severe thunderstorm watch was in effect later in the evening. That left Jones Beach in a familiar July Fourth bind: the crowd was already there, but the sky was becoming the biggest variable.
Legame Permanent Jewelry owner Jacqueline Kagiwada had set up shop at Jones Beach on Saturday for the first time on the Fourth of July, saying she had the chance to network with more customers as Long Island celebrates. “It’s amazing … it’s getting packed full of people,” she said. “We have the fireworks tonight, music’s going. It’s a great family environment.”
By nightfall, the answer to the question hanging over the beach was whether the display could keep its schedule or would have to move ahead of the weather, as other fireworks around the region already had. The crowd had come for the show, but it was the storm line that would decide how the evening unfolded.
