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UPDATE: Dreams Of East River Macy's Fireworks Kept Alive!
By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 28, 2012
Modified Feb 28, 2012
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 28, 2012
Modified Feb 28, 2012
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Photo by Steve Kelley
[UPDATE BELOW] For the fourth year in a row, all Macy's is giving to most of New York City on July 4th is a giant middle finger. The company has quietly announced that they've chosen to bring their fireworks spectacular back to the Hudson River this year, meaning residents of Brooklyn, Queens, and the east side of Manhattan will be screwed on the holiday, while the west side and NEW JERSEY get to gaze up at the beautiful fireworks show.
It's really no big deal, you guys, we should be used to empty skies by now, it's not like we get a fire-like display beautifully dancing above us, perhaps choreographed to Bruce Springsteen, on normal days, and yet we persevere. Those street fireworks are always so much more exciting/dangerous anyway. And yet here we are, yearning for those goddamn smiley face-shaped explosions in the sky. So we have reached out to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, to commiserate over this year's slap in the face. This afternoon, he told us:
“Despite initial claims from Macy’s that the 2009 move to the Hudson River to celebrate Henry Hudson’s voyage was only temporary and that they were interested in moving the display around the city, I am disappointed that again this year more New Jerseyans and residents along the west side of Manhattan will get a front row seat, excluding a large part of the city that is home to Macy’s flagship store. The Macy’s fireworks display is a spectacular event, and all of us look forward to it each and every summer. However, it’s time the show returned to the East River or another appropriate, centrally-located stage. Or how about a split between the East and Hudson Rivers to give even more New Yorkers an ideal viewing spot and help promote economic activity by attracting revelers to the restaurants and waterfront nightspots of Brooklyn and the outer boroughs of Manhattan and Queens? It took Henry Hudson just five months to reach the passage to the Hudson River—why is it taking years for Macy’s to return the fireworks to the East River?”
UPDATE: Despite having created and posted an entire graphic stating "Hudson River" and the year "2012," a Macy's fireworks rep has reached out to us to say nothing has been confirmed yet. There's still (false) hope, Brooklyn! Orlando Veras told us, "Due to an editing error on our website, old information was posted about the show location... the location(s) of the 2012 Macy's 4th of July Fireworks have not been confirmed. Unfortunately, earlier this week, the Macy's Fireworks 'coming soon' page posted with some language relating to last year's show. We expect confirmation on the location of this year's show sometime in early Spring." At press time, the Macy's website still states that this year's fireworks will be on the Hudson:
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fireworks
hudson river
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marty markowitz
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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