The air was light as the sky softened into a warm summer dusk around Camden Harbor July 4, 2024. It was time for fireworks, and the public knew all about it. Parking spaces were going fast by 8 p.m. and visitors and locals poured to various vantage points around the waterfront to watch Independence Day fireworks.

The showstopper was not just the fireworks, however; it was the natural beauty of early summer on Penobscot Bay that gave pause, enough to make most people stop and smell the roses.

Sailboats slowed their passage just off of Curtis Island, their white sails brightening the ink-dark seawater. The barge stacked with fireworks and a crew of pyrotechnicians got ready for action. A crowd had gathered on the grass at Harbor Park, by the Camden Public Library, and the sidewalks on Main, Mechanic and Bay View streets were crowded as people strolled around, seeking their best spot to watch the celebratory fireworks. 

Up on Mt. Battie, there were folks parked in cars, while even more adventurous types had hiked up, perching themselves on the granite outcroppings overlooking the bay (watching them descend with their bright headlamps after the fireworks caused a few public safety personnel to gulp just a little).

The fireworks went off just seconds before the Chestnut Street Baptist Church bell chimed 9 p.m., and the skies lit up. Drones dipped around, getting good vantage shots, and thousands of photos were taken by phones. It was estimated that 15,000 people had filled Camden’s waterfront, from the inner to outer harbor.

Where the mountains meet the sea was especially lovely on Independence Day 2024, and while some critics have avidly taken organizers (Camden Downtown Business Group) of the fireworks sharply to task for the seeming brevity of the show, they miss the point: Independence Day is about our right to gather, to move about freely, sail in and out of harbors, to greet old friends on the sidewalk, to comment without fear on Facebook, and to share a common destiny of living in the United States.

Fireworks, funded by donations, are a finale to the day, and in Maine, the day and evening could not have been finer.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657.