Though it rained in fits and starts from daylight to dark, spectators packed Baltimore's Inner Harbor last night for a rousing fireworks show.
A family from South Dakota decked out in rain ponchos, a Harford County grandmother, and a man from Long Island, N.Y., who said his friend told him the fireworks in Baltimore are "better than Disney World," all staked their claim to a spot on the waterfront for the Fourth of July display.
Although rain stopped just before the fireworks began, some in the crowd held open umbrellas and most avoided sitting on damp ground.
Throughout Maryland yesterday, people celebrated the nation's independence at cookouts and parades and by viewing the obligatory flashes of colors across the night sky.
"I love fireworks, I always have, no matter where I go and see them," said Paul Thompson of Rosedale, who watched the show at the Inner Harbor last night.
Before the fireworks began, the Naval Academy Band played as spectators jockeyed for seats along the promenade. As sprinkles turned to a downpour, revelers dispersed, only to reappear when the rain subsided.
Jay Burchell of Richmond, Va., who is celebrating his 34th wedding anniversary with his wife, Joanne, today, said they came to Baltimore to watch the fireworks for "the fanfare of the Inner Harbor."
Erma Protokowicz, a Harford County grandmother, dined on seafood with her family before finding prime-viewing seats. But a spurt of rain forced them to flee. Upon their return, the seats were gone, but they were determined to stay for the show.
"We were part of the herd - everyone running in to get out of the rain," she said.
Earlier in the day, parades stepped off across Maryland.
In Towson, the Fourth of July parade ritual became more elaborate for the families of Woodbine Terrace.
The night before yesterday's big Towson parade, the Glikin family turned the west Towson cul-de-sac of about a dozen identical brick colonials into a movie theater and projected High School Musical II onto a white sheet for the kids.
Meanwhile, neighbor A.J. Adams, 39, hammered a decoupaged black-and-white "Woodbine Terrace" sign into the grass at a new parade-viewing location for the group of about 30 - under the shade of a leafy tree on West Allegheny Avenue. A.J.'s wife, Dina, served everyone banana bread and doughnuts for breakfast there yesterday morning.
