MIDDLESEX COUNTY— Local communities throughout Middlesex County are planning concerts, festivals and fireworks displays to celebrate Independence Day.
Sayreville will celebrate on Saturday, June 28, with a festival and fireworks at Kennedy Park, 820 Washington Road. The festival will run from 4-9 p.m., with rides, carnival games, a hot dog eating contest and apple pie bakeoff among the events planned. There will be live music throughout the day, and a fireworks display beginning at 9:15 p.m. For more information, visit sayreville.com
Woodbridge Township will host a fireworks show on Thursday, July 3, at Alvin P. Williams Memorial Park off Cliff Road in Sewaren. The free event is sponsored by the township and the We Care, We Share Foundation.
Gates open at 4 p.m., with music by the Party Dolls beginning at 6:15 p.m. The fireworks begin at 9:15. For more information, visit www.twp.woodbridge.nj.us.
Carteret will also celebrate Independence Day on Thursday, July 3, with music and fireworks at the borough’s Waterfront Park. In addition, there will be rides, games, ethnic foods and vendors as part of Carteret’s annual Independence Day Festival. The Carteret High School Show Band will perform at 5 p.m., followed by the Infernos at 7 p.m. The fireworks display will start at 9:20 p.m. For more information, visit www.ci.carteret.nj.us.
Edison Township will host a July 4th holiday concert headlining the 60s/70s super group, the Grass Roots. The event will kick off at 6 p.m. with local boys Louise Drive providing some old fashioned Edison rock and roll.
Lake Papaianni, 100 Municipal Boulevard, is the site for the show. Come early and bring low backed chairs or blankets to secure your viewing area. Food vendors will be on site beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The Grass Roots will hit the stage at approximately 7:30 p.m. and entertain the thousands expected to attend with a multitude of classic hits including “Midnight Confessions,” Temptation Eyes,” “Sooner or Later,” and “Wait a Million Years” just to mention a few of their 13 gold singles.
Following the show at approximately 9 p.m., Garden State Fireworks will provide an Independence Day spectacular that will light up the skies over Lake Papaianni, with a show that that will be long remembered.
For more information, call the Edison Recreation Department daily at 732-248-7312.
The Metuchen Cultural Arts Commission will present the Brio Symphonic Band in an Independence Day Concert on Saturday, July 5, at 6 p.m. at Tommy’s Pond. The band will be continuing its series of Independence Day Concerts started in 1995 in the tradition of Sousa and Goldman. Marches, patriotic selections, vocal and trumpet soloists, folk music and other traditional and classic band music will be included.
The Brio Symphonic Band has performed in several venues around central New Jersey including the Middlesex County Parks System, Plainsboro, New Brunswick, and Old Bridge. It also performed the inaugural concert celebrating the opening of the Raritan Bay Waterfront Park in South Amboy. Its membership consists of members of the Central New Jersey Musician’s Union, Local 202-373 AFM.
Metuchen resident Edward Logue, former supervisor of music and band director at Metuchen High School will conduct the band. He is a graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College and the University of Arkansas. Since his retirement in 1995, Logue has worked as a freelance percussionist in the area and organized and conducted the Metuchen Gala Centennial Concert and the Metuchen 9/11 Memorial Concert.
Tommy’s Pond is located on Lake Avenue in Metuchen. The concert is free of charge but please bring a lawn chair. In case of rain the program will be held in the Campbell School Gymnasium.
