I’ve always found it maddening trying to find out what’s happening in the bay area for 4th of july… where the fireworks are…what free and cheap ways there are to have fun… so i compiled a list and thought i’d post it. We’ve got 50 70 4th of July 2008 events listed including the major fireworks shows in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and San Jose, plus tons of smaller hometown festivals, fairs and fireworks shows throughout the bay area, (8 in SF, 22 in East Bay, 21 in North Bay, 14 in South Bay, and 5 in the Peninsula). - list updated 7/3/08 (more…)

The city of Aptos (Just east of Santa Cruz along the Pacific) will once again celebrate the 4th of July in grand ole style. The World’s Shortest Parade will begin at 10 am at the corner of Soquel and State Park Drives and continue to the Bay View Hotel. After the parade, bring the family to “The Party in the Park” in the Aptos Village Park where there will be festivities for all to enjoy. The Party in the Park will have plenty of food, games and fun for the whole family and live music from Extra Large. The park festivities will be from 11-4 p.m. Donations of $5 for adults are appreciated, children, as always, are free. (more…)

The 63rd Annual Marin County Fair features five days of concerts, fireworks, art and eco-friendly displays and activities. The 2008 festival features: 28 Free Carnival Rides featuring 10-story Giant Ferris Wheel from Butler Amusements. The Green Life: New 6,000 square foot interactive exhibit celebrating green lifestyle choices in the Exhibit Hall. Fireworks Show over the lagoon nightly at 9:30 pm with the biggest and longest show ever presented by Pyro-Spectaculars. 38th Annual National Short Film and Video Festival, and the Marin Al-Fuel Road show with over 25 alternative fuel vehicles from fuel cell to biofuels to plug-in hybrids. July 4th concerts are the historic New Orleans band, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at 2pm and 4pm and Tommy Castro at 6pm and 8pm. All shows and concerts are free with your fair admission. (more…)

The City of San Jose’s official fireworks show, sponsored by NBC11, attracts 45,000 attendees in Discovery Meadow for an all-day 2008 San Jose America Festival, and as many as 200,000 other people can see the fireworks from spots throughout the greater Downtown area. At the free all-day festival which starts at noon, enjoy multicultural crafts and a variety of ethnic and festival foods, plus a Kidland filled with fun and games and two stages of live music with grammy-winning pop stars, classic tributes, and Japanese drummers and an entire stage dedicated to local blues artists, straight from JJ’s Blues Club. National Anthem at 9:25pm, Fireworks at 9:30pm. Live music follows fireworks until 10:30pm [Directions & Public Transportation]

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This IS your grandmother’s picnic. This historic Pardee Home Museum in downtown oakland hosts a costumed patriotic picnic and steopticon Ice Cream social. Admission includes live entertainment: Governor Pardee’s Stirring Independence Day Address, Mrs. Pardee’s Mellifluous Musicale with Frederick Hodges at the pianoforte. Also included with your admission price is free bountiful picnic food (featuring Taylor’s Sausages), cold drinks and ice cream. Free game activities on the lawn: croquet, lawn tennis, ‘eggball,’ and the Nutshell Navy. At the shady Stereograph Nook guests can view the latest 3D pictures. Period dress very strongly encouraged. Ladies, wear your biggest picture hat. (extensive, hard to read, but amusing details about this event at www.the3dfairy.com) (more…)

Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39 celebrates Independence Day with an afternoon filled with fun and excitement. Come and enjoy Big Bang Beat from 1-4pm and Tainted Love from 6-9:30pm. Following the onstage entertainment, visitors can stay to watch the spectacular fireworks. Other good viewing locations are all along the waterfront, the Cannery, Ghirardelli Square. Fireworks launch from the foot of Municipal Pier and barges to the north of PIER 39.

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Just in time for the fall elections, the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe skewers a system which puts the actual needs of the voters last with a new musical comedy, Red State debuting with three shows at Dolores Park on Fourth of July Weekend. It’s Election Day in small town America, and that’s what happens when, due to an Electoral College tie, the entire Presidential Election comes down to the one tiny town. Suddenly, the ignored, disregarded Bluebird, Kansas is the most important town in America. Founded in 1959, the San Francisco Mime Troupe creates and produces socially relevant theater; their work is political satire and anything but silent. (more…)

The 12th Annual Great Vallejo Ducky Derby is a rubber duck race on the 4th of July, 2008 at Vallejo’s Waterfront. Approximately, 15,000 rubber ducks will be released in the Mare Island Strait near the Vallejo Ferry Terminal Building in a frantic race to the finish line. Free to watch, $5 to “adopt” a ducky. Prizes include 2008 Chevy Aveo, a $2500 savings account, and a Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Experience for four. Source: yelp (more…)

Radio Disney Presents the 2008 4th of July Fireworks Show with the San Francisco Symphony. At 5:00pm Doors open for the “Radio Disney Family Festival” with interactive booths games and activities and live entertainment on the family fun stage. At 8:00pm is the San Francisco Symphony Concert followed by a spectacular fireworks display. Stay for the after-show raffle with Great Prizes, including a Disneyland Trip Getaway (more…)

Festival del Sole, Napa Valley’s premier international music festival, is proud to present a free Independence Day Concert featuring the Napa Valley Symphony in an all-American program that includes the world premiere of composer Nolan Gasser’s American Festivals, written on a text by poet Robert Trent Jones, Jr. and narrated by Emmy-award winning actor Craig T. Nelson; Dudley Buck’s The Festival Overture on the American National Air; and Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, featuring piano prodigy Conrad Tao (pictured). The evening concludes with a spectacular fireworks display. (more…)

LaborFest was established in 1994 to institutionalize the history and culture of working people in an annual labor cultural, film and arts festival. It begins every July 5th, which is the anniversary of the 1934 “Bloody Thursday” event. On that day, two maritime workers Howard Sperry, member of the ILA and George Coundourakis of the Marine Cooks and Stewards were killed by the police attack on strikers and their supporters. This touched off a general strike and led to the complete shutdown of the city. This was one of the most important general strikes in the history of the United States and led to hundreds of thousands of workers joining the trade union movement. (more…)

Blending art and soul in one of the country’s most unique neighborhoods, the Fillmore Jazz Festival is the largest free Jazz festival on the West Coast, drawing over 90,000 visitors over the Independence Day weekend. From sunup to sundown, visitors can groove to the sounds of live music from multiple stages, browse the offerings of over 8 blocks (Fillmore between Jackson and Eddy) of fine art and crafts and enjoy gourmet food and beverages. Asian to Cajun, paintings to pottery, old favorites and new directions, the Fillmore Jazz Festival is not to be missed. (more…)

Bringing you the spirit of Alaska in the heart of San Francisco, 49 Special’s blend of bluegrass and country has the drive of a crackin’ banjo, the cry of a lonesome fiddle, the twang of a hot Martin guitar, and the beef of a doghouse bass (and occasionally the pulse of the snare). The show is free (donations to the band are encouraged) and for $5 you get a burger or dog and an ice cold beer. It’s appropriately entitled a “Cheap Bastard Show”

The San Francisco Giants may be terrible, but just 50 miles south there’s some great Minor League baseball being played. The Class A San Jose Giants are in first place of the Northern Division of the California League. Watch future Giants play hard-nosed baseball in the fun atmosphere of a minor league park, followed by a fireworks show. A limited number of $9 Bleacher Seats are still available for the San Jose Giants Fireworks Extravaganza Friday, July 4th and Saturday July 5th at 6:30pm vs. the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.

SF Anti-War History Walk
By Historian David Giesen
Take a walk through the anti-Viet Nam War street action in San Francisco back in the 1960s. Then flash forward to the anti-war-in-Iraq action on San Francisco’s streets in 2003. Join historian and teacher David Giesen on a walking tour of a bit of San Francisco’s anti-imperialism gusto through the years, from the Philippines in 1898 to Lennar and Hunter’s Point in 2008. Along the way you’ll encounter the enduring evidence of territorial power and exclusion that increasingly divides San Francisco into haves and have-nots. By walk’s end you will “be in the know” regarding San Francisco’s now obscure Big Idea for making everyone a de facto land owner and rent collector. Meet at 10 am, Glide Methodist Church, 330 Ellis at the corner of Ellis and Taylor streets in San Francisco.
For more information: telekosmos@yahoo.com, 415-948-4265

Local singer/songwriter Joel Streeter cleverly fuses britpop melodies with mid-tempo indie rock. Streeter has a mature and unique take on the average pop song that will keep your toes tapping and your mind engaged since he easily navigates his songs away from the traditional pitfalls of generic songwriting, standard chord changes and lazy lyrics. His excellent album “Hear Me Out” has song after song which could easily have made it onto the O.C. soundtrack (I mean that in the GOOD way). The full band (with our favorite local guitar-slinging sidekick Max Delaney) will be performing  outside (if weather permits) from 2-5pm while you dine or drink in the Park Chalet garden (more…)