Pittsburgh’s July 4 fireworks went off Saturday evening, but not on time. Pittsburgh weather pushed the start back a half-hour, and the city’s show finally began at 10 p.m. after a day of heat, humidity and intermittent thunderstorms.
The delay did not stop the display from becoming one of the largest fireworks shows in the city’s history. Tens of thousands of colorful explosives rose from barges on Pittsburgh’s three rivers and from the rooftop of the Wyndham Grand Hotel, giving the Independence Day celebration a scale that matched the occasion: the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.
That was the part people came for. It was also the part the weather nearly swallowed. Much of the Independence Day programming planned for Point State Park and the North Shore had already been scrapped earlier in the day as thunderstorms rolled through and the air stayed heavy, forcing the celebration to narrow around the main event instead of building toward it.
Some people did what they could to stay dry and keep watching. Hundreds gathered at Acrisure Stadium, where large screens broadcast FIFA World Cup action between France and Paraguay while the storms passed and the outdoor plans fell away. The contrast was plain: a city trying to mark Independence Day outdoors while the weather kept pulling the celebration indoors.
Even with the delay and the cancellations, the fireworks answered the main question of the night. The show happened, it landed late, and it still drew a crowd large enough to make clear why Pittsburgh kept the launch alive despite the weather. What remains unanswered is how much of the canceled Point State Park and North Shore programming had been ready to go before the storms forced the city to cut it back.
