The Best July Fourth Blowouts

July 4, 2007 Special to ABCNEWS.com — -- On most American holidays, people like to gather around a table, enjoy food and family, and take some quiet time to reflect upon their blessings. But not the Fourth of July. To celebrate America's independence, we like to fill the sky with electric color.

Whether you're in New York, New Orleans or Nashville, the Fourth of July is all about going outside and watching fireworks. And as America gears up to celebrate its 231st birthday, its biggest cities are competing to host the most spectacular displays and attract the most visitors.

Check out the nation's top Fourth of July fireworks celebrations.

Modern fireworks displays have evolved far beyond simple blossoms and rockets. This year's fireworks show on the Mall in Washington, D.C., will feature one of the latest pyrotechnic innovations, "the Cube," in which shells burst to form 3-D see-through boxes, from LaFollette, Tenn.-based fireworks company Pyro Shows.

"This is the first time the audience at the Mall will see the Cube," says Lansden Hill, president of Pyro Shows. "We'll also use fireworks from Spain and China that are especially made for celebration in the nation's capital."

Washington might be the seat of American government, but Philadelphia is its birthplace, and the city takes its July Fourth celebrations very seriously. Last year 3 million visitors attended the City of Brotherly Love's Sunoco Welcome America bash.

"[Philadelphia's] celebration is about providing opportunity to people within the area and the region to celebrate the freedom that is so hard fought and hard won," says Sunoco Welcome America's CEO Clifton Davis. "Freedom is one of our closest held values, and we are proud to celebrate it."

The weeklong celebration in Philly features not only some of the best fireworks in the nation but also a star-studded concert and carnival. Eight-time Grammy-winning R&B diva Chaka Khan, known for her smash hits "I'm Every Woman" and "Ain't Nobody," will perform.

Philadelphia hopes its celebration will also break the world record for the largest salsa dance in history during the Fiesta Goya Salsa con Salsa, which features 2005 Latin Grammy nominee Michael Stuart and salsa master Adalberto Santiago.