Every year Philadelphia makes the most of Independence Day, scheduling all sorts of free and ticketed events throughout the city to celebrate. As a newbie to the whole situation, I found almost everything delightful! I attended the parade from 11:00 AM to about 1:00 PM and saw hundreds of people doing the same. The participants and the audience were all just as excited as me to be in the streets of Philadelphia. Immediately after the parade, I went to "Party on the Parkway," which had lovely young women and men doing great dance routines on stage, tons of food vendors, Wawa giveaway tents (they gave away a great iced tea lemonade drink), and some commercial spaces as well. Next on the schedule was a free concert with performers such as Kevin Hart, J. Cole, and Ne-yo. Conceptually this was a great event, but the amount of people that showed up made it unenjoyable with no room to breath, and (with my height) no view of the stage or anyone on it. The performers were also very hard to hear if you were outside concert seating. If you are thinking about coming to Philadelphia for next year's events please do spend the money to get a seat for the concert(s); they will be much more enjoyable that way. Finally, I made it to the fireworks (which, may I say, were the highlight of the evening!) Growing up in a small town didn't allow for many awe-inspiring shows, but let me tell you, Philly's fireworks are the best I've seen yet. Anyway, what I believe made July 4th even better was the diversity of event attendees; people of all ages, colors, and cultures were celebrating together as a family. Philly's truly the city of brotherly (and sisterly) love!