Tens of thousands of people came out to enjoy Raleigh 4th of July Fireworks at Dix Park
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Happy Independence Day! The big celebration in Raleigh took place at Dix Park and was broadcast live on ABC11.
Gates at Dorothea Dix Park opened at 5 p.m. The show on ABC11 started at 9 p.m., and the fireworks blasted off at 9:30 p.m.
WATCH: Full ABC11 presentation of Raleigh 4th of July Fireworks
Nearly 30,000 people went to Dix Park to enjoy the show.
Shuttles helped those people get to the park and exit in as smooth and orderly a fashion as possible. At least 5,000 people used the shuttle access to and from the park last night.
Once at the park, people had tons of entertaining options to enjoy -- from a foam party to cornhole to inflatable slides to more than 30 delicious food trucks.
"This is unbelievable. When we look at last year compared to this year, we have 20,000+ people and they're having a great time," Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said.
The weather cooperated. Despite being quite hot all day, when the sun set temperatures became more manageable. Before sunset, people could be found hanging out at one of the free water refilling stations set up throughout the park.
"It's really hot to be honest," one person said.
"It's very humid out here," another echoed.
Larger Than Lemons, a food truck specializing in lemonade, also saw a large group congregating during the hottest part of the day.
"We're happy to serve the community, but they are drinking the lemonade faster than we can make it," owner Kariba Pasha said.
Wake County EMS has eight responders on site ready to react if needed. Fortunately, they were not.
The risk for severe weather never manifested, so the tens of thousands of people at Dix Park never had to deal with rain or damaging wind or an evacuation.
ABC11 crews are working to process the video of the fireworks show. If you missed any of it or just want to see it again, check back into this article Wednesday afternoon. Or wait until 6:30 p.m. when it will re-air on the ABC11 24x7 Livestream on the ABC11 North Carolina app.
