Crews gearing up for Boston Pops Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular

Singer LeAnn Rimes and her band were on the Hatch Shell stage doing a sound check Thursday afternoon I really thought that was a tape reported Walter Noons a songwriter from Dorchester And then when I came down I saw it was a real band I figured I d check em out The sneak peak of the fun is still to come as America celebrates its birthday a treasure to those who happened by It s a surprise we didn t expect this the present day revealed passerby Fran Hanners So it was nice It s safe and good and memorable declared Cathy Collmeyer Yeah a lot of good things Soldiers from the Massachusetts Army National Guard set up four howitzers three of which will be used to fire off blanks on the banks of the Charles during the fireworks spectacular set to a classical piece by Tchaikovsky The Pops Fireworks Spectacular has been a Fourth of July tradition since Soldiers from Charlie Batter First Battalion of the st Field Artillery Regiment are making sure they re ready To get the timing right there will be a couple of people reading sheet music during the overture One of them the son of the famed Pops Conductor Arthur Fielder cuing the howitzers Sergeant Matt Jodin of Beverly cherishes this event and his family watches him fire off the howitzers It s a tremendous honor to get the ability to do this every year mentioned Jodin I m truly grateful that they picked out unit to partake in this every year I will reliably sign up for these events as much as I can Defense will be tight and roads in the area will be closed The gates open at noon Friday People will rush in to grab their piece of turf on the esplanade s oval People can set up lawn chairs and pop up tents Coolers and blankets up to by are allowed too Certain things are forbidden including coolers on wheels back packs glass containers bikes and drones