The Times Square Ball will drop eight times on Friday, 3 July, counting down to midnight in every US time zone for America's 250th birthday, and the only way to watch is on TV and online.
The first-ever drop outside New Year's Eve opens a holiday weekend where the biggest shows, from a star-packed Los Angeles concert to the largest Macy's fireworks display in history, stream free as record heat pushes millions of Americans indoors.
A Ball Drop Marathon You Can Only Watch Online
America250, the congressionally chartered nonprofit leading the Semiquincentennial, said the first drop lands at 10 a.m. EDT for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. New York's headline countdown follows at 11:59 p.m., and the final drop comes at 7 a.m. ET on Saturday for American Samoa.
'This is more than a countdown. It's a moment that brings the entire country together, one time zone at a time,' said Rosie Rios, chair of America250. Unlike New Year's Eve, no public viewing areas will open around Times Square, and the Giving 4th Broadcast Benefit Show airs from a closed set at One Times Square from 9 p.m. ET. Organisers want the event to make 4 July the largest single day of charitable giving in US history.
The Eight Free Ways To Tune In
Here is where to catch every major moment without paying.
- America250.org, streaming live from 9:45 a.m. ET on 3 July
- The America's Block Party app on iOS and Android
- America250's Twitch channel
- Freeform Radio on iHeart.com and the iHeartRadio app
- NBC's free over-the-air broadcast of the Macy's fireworks at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, 4 July
- PBS.org and the PBS app, home to A Capitol Fourth from the US Capitol's West Lawn
- PBS's YouTube and Facebook livestreams
- Major streaming apps for existing subscribers, with Peacock simulcasting Macy's and Max carrying CNN's The Fourth in America
$17.76 Tickets And A Golden Gate First
In Los Angeles, Chris Stapleton, The Smashing Pumpkins, Maren Morris, Anthony Ramos, and Chaka Khan headline America's Block Party at the Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, hosted by Queen Latifah. Tickets cost $17.76 (£13), a nod to 1776, with proceeds supporting Feeding America. The show streams on America250's platforms and ends with a fireworks and drone finale at 9:15 p.m. PDT.
Macy's marks the 50th edition of its fireworks with 85,000 shells fired from the Brooklyn Bridge, the lower East River, and the lower Hudson River, its largest display ever. Fireworks also return to Mount Rushmore on 3 July, San Francisco stages a rare Golden Gate Bridge show, the Boston Pops perform on the Charles River Esplanade, and Philadelphia closes its 16-day Wawa Welcome America festival with Will Smith and The Roots.
Record Heat Makes The Couch The Best Seat
The free streams may prove more than a convenience. National Weather Service data showed extreme heat warnings covering more than 102 million people this week, with another 43 million under watches, as a heat dome parked over the central and eastern US.
New York's Central Park hit 100F (37.8C) on Thursday, tying a record set in 1966, and forecasters expect more than 300 temperature records to fall by Saturday. Heat indices of 105F to 110F are forecast across the Midwest and East Coast, where cities from Washington to Boston have opened cooling centres.
For tens of millions sweating through the holiday, the best seat for a birthday that comes once every 250 years may be exactly where the ball drop begins, on a screen.
