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Independence Day weekend, America marks its 250th birthday

cultureJul 2, 2026651,469

New Buffalo will mark America's 250th with two music festivals, fireworks and food over the Independence Day weekend. Exit One Events, run by LaPorte entrepreneur John Moultrie, is staging the Red, White & BBQ Country Music Festival Friday at Lions Park and the sister Oh Yeah! Music Festival Saturday. The Red, White & BBQ festival opens at 10 a.m. and features The Dolly Parton Experience, Steel Country, Smokin' Gunz and Small Town: A John Mellencamp Experience; fireworks will launch at 10:30 p.m. over New Buffalo beach. The Oh Yeah! Music Festival begins at 12 p.m. and showcases SKIRT, Mr. Mota, B-Side Band, Bastian Steven, Heavy Latin & Soul Band and DJ Ryan Kenny vs. DJ Blur. Both festivals will offer barbecue, beer, wine, cocktails, local food trucks and a free shuttle; Moultrie said the goal is to create an unforgettable Independence Day celebration that brings the community together and welcomes thousands of visitors.

National Weather Service
@nws.noaa.gov

🥵🪡 Dangerous, record-breaking heat will continue across most of the central and eastern U.S through Friday, then focusing across the eastern U.S. through the Independence Day holiday weekend. Peak heat indices of up to 115 degrees are possible.

A NOAA map highlights locations expected to tie or break at least one daily record high temperature between Thursday and Sunday across the eastern half of the United States. Each red dot marks a city forecast to experience one or more record high temperatures during the four-day period.

The greatest concentration of record heat is centered across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast corridor, with numerous locations from Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine marked for potential record highs. Dense clusters are visible around major metro areas including Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston.

Additional widespread record heat potential extends southward through the Carolinas and Georgia, westward across Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and western Pennsylvania, and into parts of the Great Lakes region, including Michigan and western New York. The map emphasizes the unusually broad extent of persistent extreme heat expected to affect much of the eastern U.S. over several consecutive days.
15445d ago
Sanho Tree
@sanho.bsky.social

Stay indoors, DC! This is INSANE!!!! “The National Park Service included the detail in a draft analysis given to Politico, saying that the 35- to 40-minute program will deploy more than 850,000 fireworks shells. That's more than 100 times what is typically launched on Independence Day.“

5345d ago
3 sources