Revelers celebrate Fourth of July in Springfield in spite of scorching heat

About 100,000 people jammed the city to watch the fireworks.

SPRINGFIELD - The scorched heat did not keep revelers from coming out to celebrate the Fourth of July in Springfield.

Judith A. Matt, president of Spirit of Springfield, which organizes the event, said about 100,000 people jammed the city to attend the fireworks,which were shot off from the Memorial Bridge over the Connecticut River.

Patricia Nguyen and her family said they got to Riverfront Park about 2 p.m. to get a good spot to watch the fireworks.

Nguyen said she lives in Lee now, but one of her daughters till lives in Springfield, and it has become a family tradition to watch the fireworks from the Riverfront.

“If you can get a spot in the shade, there’s a good breeze off the river,” she said.

“I’ve been coming since I was 8 years old,” said her daughter, Catharine Nguyen. “She’s been coming since before she was born,” her mother said.

Those arriving at the park were bringing in coolers and lawn chairs.

“There are some food vendors, but we encourage picnicking,” Matts said. The Springfield fireworks were sponsored by MassMutual and Tower Square. “We couldn’t do this without them,” Matt said. This year MGM sponsored the Motown group, the Commodores, with guitarist-trumpeter William “WAK” King and drummer Walter “Clyde” Orange performing some of the group’s biggest hits, like “Brick House,’ “Three Times A Lady” and “Machine Gun.” Before the Commodores there was a performance by Dan Kane’s Rising Stars which performed all kinds of music - from patriotic to pop. Matt said she wondered whether the postponement of the Hartford, Conn., fireworks, also on the Connecticut River, would bring more people to Springfield. Public safety officials postponed a holiday fireworks display on the Connecticut River in Hartford because the river was too high after the week’s heavy rains. Areas of Riverfront Park in Hartford, including boat ramps used to launch the fireworks barges, were under water. The Hartford event had not immediately been rescheduled.