MILWAUKEE — Dozens of families and friends turned out to watch the fireworks shows across several Milwaukee County Parks on Monday night.
Those parks included Alcott, Gordon, Humboldt, Jackson, Kletzsch, Lake, Lincoln, Mitchell, Noyes, Sherman, Washington, Wilson and Hart.
Before everyone looked to the sky, plenty of groups set up spaces at the parks to eat some good food and enjoy each other's company.
"We celebrated the Fourth yesterday with other people," Tanesha Grays said. "Today we are celebrating with just us, so we are barbecuing and going to watch the fireworks."
Tanesha's neices and nephews said they were excited for their family party at Gordon Park.
"Brats, hot dogs, ribs, hamburgers, baked beans, and macaroni spaghetti," Keena said.
Daron Carter says he grew up watching fireworks at Gordon Park, and now he is sharing that memory with his young sons.
"Good day to have fun, relax, see fireworks, everyone like fireworks," Carter said.
Fireworks crews were setting up hours ahead of time, both at Gordon and Washington Parks.
"Setting the racks up, Jen is wiring up the 5-inch, Andy on the 4-inch, and me on the 3-inch," Rob Doran said.
People told TMJ4 News it means a lot to them to celebrate the Independence Day holiday this way, especially after last year, when many fireworks shows were canceled because of Covid-19 concerns. Some families say they aren't taking moments like this for granted.
"We didn’t do anything but sit at home and pop fireworks at home," Sheresse Wilson said. " But this is best part, it’s fun to be back out and doing things, and we still got our masks, but it’s just us, so we’re just chilling, it feels good."
"This year is something different, we're going to do it big this year," Tanesha said.
