4th of July in Boston - 2024

Attend the best birthday party in the country! Boston celebrates the 4th with spectacular fireworks, historical reenactments & more!

July 1 - 4, 2024

Annual Boston Harborfest Celebration

Taking place late June through July 4, the 2024 Boston Harborfest is a family-friendly event that includes historical reenactments, live music, parades and a fireworks display over Boston Harbor prior to July 4th.

Boston Harborfest

Thursday, July 4, 2024

2024 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular

The Boston Pops July 4th Spectacular is slated to take place at the Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade starting at 8:00pm. Keith Lockhart will lead a program featuring the Boston Pops orchestra with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and R&B/soul singer Darlene Love, along with headliner Broadway star Kelli O'Hara ("The King and I", "Kiss Me Kate"), and the Americana group The Mavericks. Special guests also include the Singing Sergeants from the United States Air Force Band.

The concert ends at 10:30pm with a fireworks display from 10:30-11pm (subject to change).

Please note: Rehearsals on July 3 is closed to the public. Gates will open to the public at 12 noon on July 4. Alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis are prohibited on the Esplanade per Mass DCR rules.

Pops performance with band and singer on large stage in Boston MA

Join us on the Boston Found podcast, hosted by Meet Boston CEO Martha Sheridan, as we seek out the real Boston, past and present, through stories and perspectives that capture a city always in motion.

More Boston Found podcasts are available on our podcast page or wherever you get your podcasts.

Jul 26

GPS Self-Guided Audio Tours

Action Tour Guide: Self-Guided Walking Tours in Boston
Recurring daily

Turn your phone into a personal tour guide - explore Boston and its surroundings! This self-guided walking tour bundle includes Boston Freedom Trail (Old North Church, Faneuil Hall, & more), Harvard University’s main campus in Cambridge, the historic Boston harbor tour along…

Jul 26

Heart of the Freedom Trail Guided Walking Tour

Boston By Foot, Inc.
Recurring weekly on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

This 1 hour tour is the perfect introduction to Boston’s Revolutionary history! Visit some of the key sites along the world-famous Freedom Trail in this engaging, one-hour guided walking tour. Journey into the past as you hear stories about events that took place in the Old State…

Jul 26

Revolution's Edge

Old North Church & Historic Site
Recurring weekly on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Revolution’s Edge takes us to the afternoon of April 18, 1775, hours before the signal lanterns would shine from Old North’s steeple. With war on the horizon, Old North’s Loyalist rector, the Rev. Dr. Mather Byles Jr., is pushed to ‘resign’ his post. As Byles and Cato (an African…

Jul 26

Road to Revolution Guided Walking Tour

Boston By Foot, Inc.
Recurring weekly on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Explore the makings of a revolution! From the Boston Massacre to Paul Revere’s midnight ride, the birth of the American Revolution happened on these very streets. Hear the extraordinary stories preserved in the meetinghouses, halls and homes of Boston’s oldest neighborhoods. On…

Jul 26

Throw Tea into the Boston Harbor!

Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum
Recurring daily

Experience life at sea aboard an 18th-century sailing vessel as you join a Son of Liberty and take part in the “Destruction of the Tea”! Throw tea into the very same body of water where the Boston Tea Party took place over 240 years ago. Take part in a multi-sensory experience…

Freedom Trail

The famous Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile red-brick trail through Boston’s historic neighborhoods that tells the story of the American Revolution.

Action Tour Guide offers a GPS self-guided audio tour of Boston's Freedom Trail, fully narrated mobile apps available for download.

Freedom Trail Map

Map of the Freedom Trail

Reading of the Declaration of Independence

You can hear the Declaration of Independence read from the balcony of the Old State House —by the current Captain Commanding of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company—just as it was read to the citizens of Boston on July 18, 1776.

You can attend this year's reading at Harborfest on July 4, 2024. Or experience past readings of The Declaration of Independence through this link on YouTube.

Boston's Famous Landmarks

Boston is home to an unrivaled array of landmarks & institutions that reveal a storied history of ingenuity, innovation, & trailblazing leadership.

Guide to Summer in Boston

Experience the energy of Fenway Park, discover Boston's outdoor art scene, splash into the Charles with a Duck Tour, and attend a North End Feast - find your ultimate summer bucket list in Boston!