Fireworks aren’t the only thing to look forward to for Independence Day. Baltimore is full of events to keep the red, white, and blue spirit going all day long. From cruises to pet parades, there is no shortage of things to do in the city to show your patriotic pride. Whether you’re looking for a full day’s worth of star-spangled fun or a dinner on the water, we’ve got you covered.

FOOD

Topside
Celebrate Independence Day by chowing down on a BBQ-inspired menu, featuring ancho BBQ ribs, housemade sausage, smoked brisket, corn pudding, broccoli salad, and cornbread. Although the Mt. Vernon restaurant doesn’t provide a front row view of the fireworks in the Inner Harbor, Topside does offer panoramic views of the Washington Monument—and what’s more patriotic than that?

Summer in the Squares
Listen to live music while enjoying a summer picnic in the west square of Mount Vernon Place. Enjoy refreshments in by the picturesque fountain and celebrate Independence Day with two Baltimore-based ensembles: Ghost Sugar and Brandon Woody’s Upendo. To give you time to get to your favorite fireworks, the performance will begin in the early evening. 6 p.m.

Independence Day Deck Party
Climb aboard the U.S.S. Constellation and watch the Inner Harbor fireworks show from the deck of the historic ship. Along with a top-notch view, take advantage of all-you-can-eat barbecue favorites, special boat tours, and even cannon firings. 7-10 p.m. Free- $75.

Fourth of July Fireworks Dinner
Take a three-hour cruise with incredible views of Baltimore’s fireworks show while indulging in a three-course buffet style dinner. Enjoy an open bar, DJ, dance floor, and games. All guests must be 21 or older. 7:30-10:30 p.m. $124.90+.

FESTIVITIES

Towson Four on the 4th
Start the holiday off on the right foot with a four-mile race through the heart of Towson, beginning at the courthouse and winding through Towson University’s campus. If that distance is too daunting, participate in the 1776 (feet) Family Fun Run at 8:30 a.m. and then stick around for the annual parade. 8:15 a.m. $35- 40.

Visionary Pets on Parade
What could be better than a dog dressed in red, white, and blue garb? Try hundreds of pets of all shapes and sizes competing for costume prizes such as most visionary, owner and pet lookalikes, and most patriotic. Watch in awe as local pets parade around the American Visionary Art Museum and compete in a talent show. 9 a.m. Free.

Red, White & Zoo
Spend the Fourth of July with the biggest party animals around at The Maryland Zoo. Watch as the animals receive special holiday treats, including “fishsicles,” and papier-mache toys. A team of zookeepers will educate guests on the importance of enrichment activities for the zoo’s inhabitants. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. $17.99-25.99.

Hanover Street Gallery
Experience the opening celebration of Reframing Pathways, a diverse collection of artwork showcased on the Hanover Street Bridge facade. The Hanover Street Bridge will be transformed into a gallery with the heart of the works highlighting different art-making perspectives from pattern and design to more representational works. 1-9 p.m.

FIREWORKS

Cherry Hill Arts & Music Waterfront Celebration
Celebrate the cultural vibrancy of this South Baltimore neighborhood with live performances, local food trucks, artistic activities, and a fireworks show. Don’t miss seeing Abu the Flutemaker and the organization Safe Streets Cherry Hill receive honors for its commitment to the community. 1-10 p.m. Free.

South Point
South Point, a pop-up outdoor seasonal space, will be open early for first-come-first-served seating areas to bask in the rockets’ red glare. Throughout the day, standard food service will be available and the bar will be open to patrons 21 and older. Stick around for the afterparty starting immediately following the fireworks. 4 p.m.-12 a.m.

Dogfish Head Takes Over at the Sandlot
Join Sandlot and Dogfish Head for Fourth of July at Harbor Point. The Delaware brewery will take over taps and the event features: two live bands, games on the beach, multiple food stations, various draft and can beer stations, and one of the best firework views in town. Expect additional food pop-ups by The Charmery, Blacksauce Kitchen, and The Local Oyster. Food will be available from 4-9p.m. and stick around for fireworks at 9:30 p.m. $5 kids through age 12. $10 cover. $10 event parking.

Independence Day Celebration
Secure a spot on the waterfront lawn of the Baltimore Museum of Industry for a picture-perfect view of the fireworks over the Inner Harbor. If there’s time before or after the show, take a tour through the Federal Hill museum. Admission is included in the ticket price. 6-10 p.m. $65.

Picnic at the Top
Climb to the highest floor of the World Trade Center to enjoy a Picnic at the Top. Visitors can take in a 360-degree view of Baltimore and festive fireworks from 27 floors above the Inner Harbor. The event offers catered food and beverages, children’s activities, a live DJ, and photo booth. This is a non-alcoholic, family-fun event, and doors open at 7:15 p.m. 7:30-10 p.m. $35-$75.

Jacoby Jones retires a Raven.
One of the heroes of the Ravens’ Super Bowl XLVII run will announce his retirement today at the team’s facility in Owings Mills. Time to cue up the video of that 109-yard kickoff return . . . (or him catching the Miracle at Mile High, or dodging Mike Tomlin on Thanksgiving and saying afterward—while eating a turkey leg in the locker room—that he should have ran into the Steelers’ coach.) I think we can all agree on that.

A controversy wrapped in the flag.
One day, most likely a long time from now, if at all, maybe everyone will step back, take a deep breath, and think. About what this last week—which began Sunday morning with images from London of a dozen Ravens players (and Ray Lewis) kneeling during the national anthem in protest of our president, and continued the last few days with heated debate about it – has really meant.

But, for now, we’re still in it. 

What exactly will happen this Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium? We know that at least a few new voices, a trio from the U.S. Air Force, will bellow, “O, say…” before kickoff. Reservoir Hill native Joey Odoms, the team’s anthem singer since 2014 and a former national guardsman, resigned from his post amid the ongoing controversy, saying he doesn’t feel welcome anymore, citing the negative reactions of some fans to the nationwide signs of unity among NFL players.

Emotions have been stirred in all corners, including from 65,000-plus who’ve signed a petition to take down Lewis’ statue at the stadium, though he said this week he wasn’t necessarily protesting, but praying. In any case, intent has been blurred, jerseys burned, listening seemingly stopped, and we’ve been forced to consider our opinions on the whole issue, even if we’d normally prefer to watch a pro football game to escape our problems and, of course, primarily to see the Ravens beat the Steelers again.

There’s always next year?
Well, after flirting with a playoff run until the last few weeks, the Orioles’ 64th season will end unceremoniously in Tampa Bay on Sunday, when they play their last game of the regular season. It’s not the type of year the O’s, or we, hoped for; they’ll finish with a losing record for the first time since 2011, Buck Showalter’s first full year as manager.

But the season did have its moments, like on a hot afternoon Sunday, in the Camden Yards finale, when too-often-injured fan favorite J…J…Hardy smacked a two-run homer in the fourth inning, after receiving a standing ovation in the first in what might be his last game wearing an O’s uniform here. That’s a nice way to go out!

Friday night lghts.

St. Frances Academy, the private school located on East Chase Street just off the Jones Falls Expressway, has a long history, as in more than 185 years’ worth as the first and oldest predominantly African-American Catholic school in the country. Its 2017 football team is now part of its story, too.

With a 28-7 win over Calvert Hall last Friday night, the Panthers, who finished 0-6 in the MIAA two years ago, improved to 4-0 overall and rose to No. 22 in the USA Today National Top 25, while remaining tied with DeMatha for the top spot in the state poll. We’ll have to see how the team fares against Loyola Blakefield this afternoon at 4 p.m.

Some stood, some knelt, some sat, some stayed in the locker room, and one even stretched for the National Anthem during Sunday’s NFL games. Following comments made by President Donald Trump at a political rally in Alabama on Friday calling on NFL owners to fire any player who “disrespects our flag,” multiple teams in the organization came together on Sunday in one of the biggest displays of open protest.

The Ravens and Jaguars kicked off a long string of protests in London Sunday morning with 10 Ravens players—including Terrell Suggs, C.J. Mosley, and Lardarius Webb—either taking a knee or standing with locked arms in solidarity in response to the president’s remarks.

“That’s a total disrespect of our heritage,” President Trump told supporters on Friday in Huntsville, Alabama. “That’s a total disrespect of everything that we stand for. Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now.’”

This was the first time any Ravens player protested—just as quarterback Colin Kaepernick did back in 2016 in protest against the treatment of African Americans in the United States.

Following the Ravens early game, a number of other NFL players followed suit by staying in the locker room during the Anthem, including members of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, and Tennessee Titans. Trump responded to the series of protest on Twitter Sunday.

Supporters of the protests insist the act is less about the American flag and National Anthem, and more about the right to exercise free speech and speak up about racial injustice. 

“In nearly 25 years as a sports executive, and a lifetime spent as an American citizen, I have never been so appalled by the abusive blood lust of my country’s highest governmental office, to defile my country’s constitutional guarantees,” president of MASN Sports, John P. Angelos, wrote on Twitter. “Anti-American and anti-citizen abuse of [the Trump administration’s] power should be repudiated, protested, and legally opposed on every front.” 

However, opponents of the athletic protests believe their actions are unpatriotic and disrespectful to those who have served or are serving in the military. Locally, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler took to Facebook to express his anger with the Ravens franchise.

“The embarrassment that is the NFL continues and people wonder why I am on strike,” Gahler wrote. “Ravens join the nonsense of taking knee [sic] while on the soil of the country we gained our independence from. Will be doing a housecleaning of any Ravens merchandise later today and getting it all ready for the burn.”

There are many people in Baltimore that have mixed feelings about the protests that happened on the field Sunday, wondering if there is a way to simultaneously respect the right to free speech while also honoring the country and its veterans.

“Just a thought . . . what if every past, current, and future American military person chose to take a knee instead of fighting to keep our country safe and free?” Bar Liquorice owner Jeff Cahill posted on Facebook. “I do respect anyone’s right to peacefully protest, but it has to be tempered with the respect for those who fought and lost their lives [my family included] in service to this country, which is what our flag and National Anthem symbolizes.”

The protests have also gone beyond the NFL, with Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry declining an invitation to visit The White House. President Trump then rescinded the invitation and Lebron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers sounded off on Instagram. The ripple effect continued into the MLB when Oakland Athletics’ catcher Bruce Maxwell, who is from a military family, became the first baseball player in history to kneel during the National Anthem on Saturday.

The weekend of protesting has caused a firestorm on a local level with a mixed bag of protests, support, boycotting, and championing. For Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti himself, he sees all of the dialogue as a reflection of democracy.

“We recognize our players’ influence,” he said. “We respect their demonstration and support them 100 percent. All voices need to be heard. That’s democracy in its highest form.”

What led to you tackling a book-length history of the anthem?
The idea flashed into my head in 1996 during a graduate history seminar at Stony Brook University. I love music and knew the song dated to 1814, so it had a significant heritage. Aware that its 200th anniversary would arrive in the not-too-distant future, I was pleasantly stunned to learn that very few books had been written about the most controversial song in American history.

Did you set out to write a biography of a song?


Indeed, it is a living, evolving entity that will never die. As I researched the song’s history that semester, I knew I was on to something big. The political uses of the song, the malleability of its meaning and the quirks of its trajectory intrigued me. Americans revere the song, but they don’t necessarily like it. I wanted to know how this composition became the official anthem, why it took 117 years to make it so and what made Congress act in 1931.

What is the greatest misconception about “The Star-Spangled Banner”?


In addition to the belief that the song is hard to sing, the notion that it glorifies war. Like a journalist, Francis Scott Key merely described what he saw on the night that England’s Navy bombarded Fort McHenry. Compared with The Marseillaise, the French anthem, which calls for patriots to water their fields with the enemy’s blood, Key’s verses are pretty tame. In the fourth verse, he also justified war (“then conquer we must”) only “when our cause it is just.”

I assume you visited Baltimore while researching the book. What did you think of the city and Baltimoreans’ relationship to the song?


Thanks to a Smithsonian Institution fellowship, I conducted considerable research at Fort McHenry, the Pratt Library and the Maryland Historical Society, where I discovered pivotal documents that enhanced the narrative. Baltimore is a main character in the book and local patriots helped make “The Star-Spangled Banner” the official national anthem. Most Americans dismiss the War of 1812, but the Battle of Baltimore represents a major David-vs.-Goliath victory.

What’s your favorite rendition? Why?


I am partial to Jose Feliciano’s singular, yet controversial version, performed almost a year before Jimi Hendrix’s incendiary rendition at Woodstock. Feliciano took heartfelt, creative liberties with the melody to forge one of the most distinctive performances in the song’s history. Honorable mention also goes to Marvin Gaye for originality and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver’s a capella take for spine-tingling beauty.

There have, over the years, been rumblings about changing the anthem. Do you believe that will ever happen?
Never. Such talk is folly. Due in part to the inspiring circumstances of its creation and its focus on the flag, “The Star-Spangled Banner” became the de facto national anthem soon after it spread after the Battle of Baltimore. The major challengers over the years—including “Yankee Doodle”; “Hail, Columbia”; “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean”; “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America”—are flawed. None of them have the same historical gravitas, or the edgy melody, of Key’s creation.