CAPE CORAL, Fla. — For the past nine months, Cape Coral has been preparing for its single-day largest event: Red, White, and Boom. This year, they're expecting a larger crowd on the Fourth of July.
"What we suggest is people come pretty early, maybe have lunch at one of the restaurants downtown. Get your parking spot early," said Todd King, Cape Coral's special events coordinator. "Big John’s parking lot, Club Square, also the military museum."
You can park at Big John's lot, Club Square, at the military museum, and Iguana Mia. There's a bus that will take you to each lot and down to Cape Coral Parkway.
Keep in mind, there are some road closures.
"Anything south of Del Prado, anything south of 47th Terrace is all closed in this area," King said.
That starts on July 4 at 3 a.m. The Cape Coral Bridge will also close at the same time.
Once you make it downtown, King says you will see a change this year.
"We built this half-circle food court," he said. "So we have lots of vendors on the north side of the road."
Behind the scenes, King and his crew had to work around some changes of their own.
"From the Ian side, we did have a lot of landscaping and a lot of horticulture work to do to get the park ready and prepared because Ian did plow it over pretty good," he explained.
Along with Ian, they're also bracing for a larger crowd this year.
"We do anticipate a large turnout as a result of some of the other cities not having a show," King said.
The City of Naples canceled its show due to Ian recovery. King expects at least 40,000 people and 1,000 boats to watch the fireworks show from the river.
Pyrotechnico, a company from Pennsylvania, spends three days putting the fireworks together. There are around 1,500 shells for a 15-minute show choreographed to music.
"We have the best fireworks in southwest Florida," King said.
Fireworks of your own are not allowed and you should not bring your pets.
Red, White, and Boom starts at 5 and musical performances begin at 5:15. Fireworks will go off at 9:30, though King says the time can fluctuate depending on the weather.
