July 4th 2025 Fireworks, Events Around Berkeley

BERKELEY, NJ — Independence Day falls on a Friday in 2025, kicking off a star-spangled three-day weekend packed with fireworks, festivals and other Fourth of July fun in and around Berkeley.

To help you fit it all in on your 4th of July calendar, Patch has put together a guide to what’s going on in Berkeley and the surrounding areas.

July 4 Festivities For 2025

What: Berkeley Sounds of Summer Concert
Where: Veterans Park, Bayville
When: July 2, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Enjoy live music from Jukebox Legends and Naked Jake Band, followed by fireworks at 9 p.m.

What: Lacey Township Fireworks
Where: Lacey Township High School
When: July 3
Festivities begin at 7:30 p.m.; fireworks are at 9:15 p.m.

What: Surf City Fireworks
Where: Barnegat Bay off 17th and 18th Street
When: July 3, 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.

What: Seaside Heights Fireworks
Where: Seaside Heights Boardwalk
When: July 4, 9:30 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.

What: Beach Haven Fireworks
Where: Taylor Avenue bayfront behind Bay Village
When: July 4, 9:30 p.m.

What: Tuckerton Fireworks
Where: Lake Pohatcong
When: July 4, dusk around 9:15 p.m.

What: Barnegat Fireworks
Where: Barnegat High School
When: July 5
Festivities begin at 5 p.m.

What: Beachwood Fireworks Over the Toms River
Where: The Toms River
When: July 5
Note that this annual tradition is held on July 5 this year.

Independence Day commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. In that document, the 13 original colonies declared their independence from Great Britain.

During the pivotal summer of 1776, the pre-Revolutionary celebrations honoring King George III’s birthday were replaced with mock funerals as a symbolic break from the crown.

It was an exciting time in Philadelphia — the Continental Congress voted to break from the crown and, two days later on July 4, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the original 13 colonies —New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland. Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia — to adopt the Declaration of Independence.

The first annual commemoration of the nation’s independence was in Philadelphia on July 4, 1777, while the Revolutionary War was ongoing. Fireworks have been part of Fourth of July festivities since the first celebration in Philadelphia.

Today, Americans celebrate with fireworks, parades, concerts, and family gatherings and barbecues. Celebrations, though, predate by centuries the designation of Independence Day as a federal holiday, which didn’t happen until 1941.