Throngs lined streets all over the capital region for parades and patriotism on Friday, with citizens from Mumbai, Indiato Springfield coming to wish America a happy birthday.
On the rolling green grounds of Mount Vernon, Cindy Holman, of Potomac lounged on the grass with her family to watch the First Virginia Regiment re-enactment group demonstrate its military prowess on the historic estate that once belonged to America’s first president.
“For a day like today, it’s special to be here and see this as opposed to just going to someone’s house and sitting outside,” she said above the musket fire. “That’s what we did last year, and you really forget what it’s all about.”
Decked in a star-spangled bandana, Quebec blogger Marc Nadeau, 33, had come to the District for his first Fourth of July.
“Throughout its history, America has been a lighthouse for freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” he said, adding that he became an Americanist at age 6, when he received a “shot in the arm” from watching Ronald Reagan give an address.
Nadeau was traveling with friends, including Celine Brousseau, 80, also of Quebec, who said she was fulfilling “a lifelong dream” by coming to D.C. for the Fourth.
“It’s marvelous, so beautiful,” she said. “I’m 80. I thought I was finished. It’s a new beginning.”
The endorsements were not universal. H.N. Singh was making his first visit to the United States, to see his daughter’s family in the Virginia suburbs. He said D.C. was colder than his native India, but he was surprised at the low turnout for an Independence Day festival.
In India, he said, people begin showing up in cities for more than a month before the Aug. 15 ceremony.
“It’s much bigger than this place,” he said. “Here it’s only 25 percent support. There, it’s 100 percent.”
There were some sour notes at Friday’s festivities, too. Police locked off 15th Street near the White House visitors’ center for nearly an hour while they investigated a suspicious package left on a wall near the White House. A construction project on the George Washington Parkway’s Humpback Bridge prompted U.S. Park Police to prohibit drivers for the first time from congregating on the shoulder of the road to watch the fireworks display from across the Potomac River — a pastime for many Washingtonians.
Luis Zapata, of Silver Spring, was at the Takoma Park parade Friday but said he wasn’t exactly thrilled about it.
The Fourth of July is “a celebration of the United States establishing itself on Native American territory,” Zapata said.
His friend Emily Koechlin, of Takoma Park, agreed, adding, “This isn’t a time in my life when I’m proud of my country.” She then said, “You know everyone is looking at you because you’re wearing a tie.”
With reporting by Freeman Klopott, Taryn Luntz and Bill Myers
