For the past three years the City’s Woodlawn Lake Fourth of July event has provided the San Antonio community with a place to celebrate the national holiday. A fireworks display began shooting through the blackened sky around 9:30 p.m., concluding a day of family-friendly activities and celebrations commemorating the independence of the United States of America.
In previous years, San Antonio families gathered at Hemisfair for fireworks that ignited the city’s skyline from atop the Tower of the Americas. Due to ongoing construction work and development around the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and the forthcoming Civic Park, Fourth of July celebrations have largely been moved to Woodlawn Lake.
The lake is the result of a development history that dates back to the latter half of the 19th century. Developers established the flatland area as the plot on which to build a residential subdivision in the 1880s, but advocates with an eye for potential shaped the man-made lake into the community landmark that it is today. Joggers, fishers, swimmers, and park enthusiasts habitually occupy the lake, but the early July holiday brings thousands of visitors to the area for the City’s official Fourth of July celebrations.
Fireworks shot above the lake’s reflective waters and ignited the night’s sky with hues of red, green, blue, and gold.
The hours spent before sunset were filled with live music and activities scattered around the shores of the lake, like a small parade moving along to the rhythm of a quaint but energetic drum line.
