Fireworks to return to DC’s National Mall for July 4

Fireworks are returning to the National Mall for the Fourth of July, in what organizers say will mark “an important step forward as the city emerges from the pandemic.”

The iconic July 4 light show in the nation’s capital will go on this year, the National Park Service announced Tuesday.

The 17-minute display on Independence Day will be launched from both sides of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Last year, amid the coronavirus pandemic, then-President Trump held a “2020 Salute to America” event on the South Lawn of the White House and Ellipse. The gathering, which saw far thinner crowds than the traditional Independence Day celebration in Washington, was held despite pushback from lawmakers who said that hosting a mass event would put people at risk of contracting COVID-19.

“Watching the Fourth of July fireworks from the National Mall against the backdrop of the monuments and memorials is one of the grandest traditions of our nation’s capital,” Jeff Reinbold, superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks, said in announcing this year’s spectacle.

President Biden has set the July 4 holiday as a vaccination goal, saying he’s aiming to have 70 percent of American adults receive at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by the date.

In a news release, the National Park Service made a vaccination push, directing potential fireworks gazers to the government’s COVID-19 information website. Fireworks revelers who aren’t fully vaccinated, the National Park Service said, “must continue to wear masks indoors and in crowded outdoor spaces,” per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.