Skip to main content

First Fourth Music Series

Note, this is for the 2008 July 4th Celebration, click here for the 2009 schedule


July 4th promises to be an activity packed one as we are faced with a sort of perfect storm of events. Not only are fireworks once again planned, we also have First Friday and the Summer Street Music Series. Because of this, this year the fireworks will be held downtown to coincide with the rest of the events.

The Alexandra Day Band kicks things off at 2pm with a concert at the corner of Bridge and Main. Following them at 3pm will be Telleri Band and at 4 the Michael Packer Blues Band takes the stage. Finally, headlining the day is Craig Newell's Evening with Elvis.

All of this will be accompanied by the usual First Friday festivities. The evening will end with a firework celebration scheduled to begin around 9:30.

And for those of you who missed the fireworks last year because of the weather, the early report is for a 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms, which is pretty much par for the course this time of year.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Where will the fireworks be set off? When they are at Reservoir Park, I just go to the third floor of my house if I am really lazy or to DeSanto Field if I want to go outside.

Knowing where they will be set off will help everyone figure out where to go to get a good look.
Anonymous said…
Man, the town will be packed on July 4th!
Anonymous said…
This will be the best 4th in Phoenixville ever. If you live in this town take this opportunity to brag about our town and make people visit the greatest town in Pa. I truly believe there isn't a town better than ours and this should be a shining moment (hopefully mother nature cooperates). But lets get everyone on board and shine!
JW said…
Not 100% sure but I think they will be set off on the steel site. Will try and find out for sure though.
Anonymous said…
The fireworks are being set off at the old steel site in the downtown. It's gonna be awesome. I hope everyone in town is there and enjoys it - as we can only make this event the best its ever been.
Anonymous said…
I hate to take the contrary opinion, but I'm not crazy about the fireworks beign set off at the steel site. Where are people going to sit/stand to watch them? More importantly, where will their children be playing and running around up to the time of the show? At Friendship Field, it was a safe area for families and children to play. This idea has nothing to do with families as it is to get people into town and spend $$$. While I understand that...I don't think this particular event should be moved into town.

Not that there is much parking on the North Side anyway, there sure is a lot more than you'll find in town for this event. If there's one report of a kid getting hit by a car as they're playing in the street waiting for the show, kiss fireworks goodbye at Phoenixville.
A Stout Yeoman said…
I understand this may not be the MOST objective place to ask this, but this is my first 4th in Phoenixville and I'm wondering how the fireworks are. I've spent most of my 4ths at the Pottstown fireworks, which I consider to be pretty good considering the size of the town.

How does everybody feel they compare to Pottstown's...or how are they in general?
Anonymous said…
I agree with the children comment. I love taking my kids to friendship field. I hope they are gong to be closing the streets around there at least! I don't know, with all the people having beers at the bars around the area I am not comfortable to have my kids sitting on the curb for any length of time.
Anonymous said…
I asked the question orginally, and I'm still confused about where I will be able to see the fireworks -- first off, "the Steel Property" is 80 acres -- could the fireworks site be narrowed down a bit more?

Reservoir Park is the highest point in town (unless the fireworks are going to be shot off from the bluffs, which would be very cool, but I'm still now sure where one could get a good sight line as there are plenty of trees between the bluffs and the streets) so the advantage to shooting them off there was that you could see the fireworks pretty much anywhere in town where there weren't trees. By having a "family area" in Friendship Field, small children could run around and be safe.

At this point, I'm not convinced that people will really be able to see the fireworks that well, but I'll reserve judgement until we find out where in those 80 acres the fireworks are going off.
Anonymous said…
yea-it's not very clear where they are going to be?
JW said…
Unfortunately all I have to work with is the scanned flyer that is linked to from the Borough site. I have emails in to various people who may be able to shed more light on the location. If/when I hear something I'll post it on the blog.
Anonymous said…
I just called the Recreation Dept of the Borough.
They said it is going to be behind Molly Maguires. She said there are places to sit in the grass and on the sidewalks. 100 block of Bridge street will be closed, but High Street (which goes up to the North Side) will not. I don't know, I still wish they were at Friendship Field. :(
Anonymous said…
Again, "there will be places to sit on the grass and sidewalks"...sure, right along Iron Hill, but that's about it. And while you're there, spend money. I'm all for patronizing the town, but this event is not the event that should for that purpose. Compare that to the wide open Friendship Field...I may be wrong, but it's not going to work. All we're going to hear about next week is the lack of parking, and how everyone had to sit along the road. I hope it works for them...but I'm afraid in the end the collective bottom line of the local restaurants will speak more than the comfort and safety of the people. Improving the businesses downtown is one thing...being greedy is another. I will not be attending.

As far as how are the Phoenixville fireworks...I thought they were pretty good. The show used to run about 40 minutes +/-...and I thought the quality was pretty good. There was a snafu last year, and the show went off in a torrential downpour after 95% of the people left. Combine that with this year's change of venue, I'm quite apathetic about the whole deal...which is a shame.

I took some pictures in 2004, which (if I did my HTML properly) can be viewed by clicking here
Anonymous said…
I agree with the children issues and the parking could be a problem if your coming from out of the downtown area. Having said that most of the residents can walk and you can easily bring beach chairs (just like during the parades). I also don't agree with beating up on the local restaurants. They have nothing to do with the location of the fireworks. We can argue that point to the people in charge but to blame the restaurants and greed is just silly and there is no connection. Lets keep it an honest discussion here.
Anonymous said…
I didn't mean to beat up on the restaurants...they don't have anything to do with that. It's more of the "people in charge" who want to promote the downtown area. I'm all for that 100% as well...but, we don't need to start doing that for *all* events. You've already got me coming down for first Friday, Blobfest, Celtic street fair, new & better restaurants, Quizzo, etc, etc.

Beach chairs are fine for parades, it runs right in front of you. If the fireworks are behind Molly's, the only place I can see where people will sit is along bridge street. Main street has to remain open for access to the North Side, so I don't see that as a great place to sit and watch.

It just seemed like Friendship Field was the perfect place for fireworks. Big open field, food, games, kids can play ball or frisbee, and a great view no matter where you were. Why fix something that's not broken?
Anonymous said…
Does anyone know if there will be a parade?
Anonymous said…
The fireworks were excellent last year, and were at the same spot. I much prefer it downtown as opposed to friendship field. I don't know, less mosquitos maybe? Also, not sure, but i would think they are still enjoyable from the field.
Anonymous said…
Eh...a little deep-woods Off will take care of the mosquitos. I guess time will tell. If it works, great. My gut says it won't be as nice or as convenient as anticipated.
Anonymous said…
This is my first pville 4th as well and I really look forward to all of the events. I am grateful that the town is putting together all of these fun events for everyone to enjoy. There may be changes and adjustments to schedules that need to be made in order to enjoy the festivities, but the town is a lot better than the ones around. I am happy to be apart of a community that cares and cannot wait for a summer filled with music and festivities!
Anonymous said…
I am glad you're all for the growth of the downtown. Sometimes I don't get the divide between some of the town folks and the downtown district. The downtown growth is only a good thing for all of us (I also live in the borough). I also think the sports field was a good location but I feel the downtown is even a little bit better (my opinion) with all of the things to do before and after the fireworks. It also promotes and highlights our great town to its fullest extent. See you at quizzo.

PS - Looks like mother nature may not agree with any of us.
VC said…
This was my first forth in p'ville (typically at the shore) and I was very impressed by the community presence and the fireworks were amazing!

Looking forward to Independence day 2009!

Popular posts from this blog

Local Non-Profit Spotlight: You Are Worth It Foundation

The You Are Worth It Foundation is a grassroots homeless and in-need outreach group from Phoenixville, PA. Around Phoenixville recently asked Chris Brickhouse for some more information about the Foundation and how you can help: Tell us a little about You Are Worth It and how it got started: We are a homeless outreach organizations serving Phoenixville, Pottstown, Norristown, Center City and Kensington in Philly and constantly expanding. We were formed in early 2018 by Dina Rowan and I came on board last June. We have roughly 15 volunteers so far and would like to expand that to expand our reach. We take donated items directly to the people. We provide them with a hot meal and new or lightly used clothing and self-care products. We have long term goals of a mobile shower center, vocational training and assisting with housing in any way possible. What kind of items do you need? We take a wide array of items - individually packaged food, canned goods, ramen, protein bars, water, s