Crowds fill Long Island parks on Independence Day; fireworks on tap Friday night

The skies over Long Island will be illuminated in dazzling colors Friday night as throngs of New Yorkers head to Jones Beach to catch a glimpse of the annual July 4th fireworks show, or just head out to other state parks for various holiday festivities. 

By 4 p.m., Long Island state parks had achieved "turnaround" capacity, officials said, meaning that more vehicles were exiting than entering, state officials said.

With near perfect Long Island beach weather, Robert Moses State Park in Babylon saw among the heaviest crowds of any of Long Island’s big state beaches, said George Gorman, regional director for the state parks department.

"We started managing traffic around 9 a.m., which is extremely early for us," Gorman said. 

By 4 p.m. the park was at 97% capacity, state officials said.

Orient Beach State Park and Hempstead Lake State Park were both filled to capacity, with Orient utilizing overflow field parking for the large crowds.

Sunken Meadow State Park, in Kings Park, which usually fills up early on Independence Day, had only "light to moderate" traffic, with no backups during the day, Gorman said.

By 4 p.m., the park was at 74% capacity, officials said.

Meanwhile, Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh was at 71% capacity before the fireworks show.

All other Long Island State beaches and parks saw strong attendance, but did not fill to capacity. 

All state roads were open without incident, said Trooper Brittany Burton, a spokeswoman for New York State Police Troop L, which patrols Long Island.

However nice the weather, Gorman said, it is unlikely that state beaches will set any attendance records Friday — or ever again. In the 1970s and 80s, he said, "we used to not close when we filled to capacity. Cars would park on shoulders of roads, block up local neighborhoods — we can’t do that again, and it wasn’t a good time if you had to wait three hours to get to a beach."

The 25-minute Jovia Financial Credit Union Fireworks Spectacular at Jones Beach begins at 9:30 p.m. and is expected to paint the night sky with colorful patterns and floral designs.

The show is expected to include patriotic tunes such as "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue," "America" and "God Bless the U. S. A," along with modern sing-along anthems like "Defying Gravity," "Levitating" and "Hot to Go."

The fireworks are included in the $10 parking admission. Radio stations WALK 97.5 FM and KJOY 98.3 FM will simulcast music during the fireworks presentation.

Costumed characters from Beauty and the Beast and Spiderman will walk the boardwalk from 4 p.m.to 7 p.m. to interact and take photos with the public.

A band will be playing live music beginning at 8 p.m. until the start of the fireworks and then from 10 p.m. until 11 p.m. following the show.

During the day, guests can head to the boardwalk for an interactive green screen photo booth experience featuring patriotic and summer scenes.

Newsday's Nicholas Spangler and Lorena Mongelli contributed to this story.