Happy Fourth of July!

The Fourth of July brings fireworks, picnics, BBQs, parades, flags, and patriotic music all to commemorate the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia. According to the Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, “the holiday was first observed in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776, at which time the Declaration of Independence was read aloud, city bells rang, and bands played. It was not declared a legal holiday, however, until 1941.”

Don’t miss the Austin Symphony Orchestra performing its traditional Independence Day Concert at 8:30 p.m. July 4 at the Northeast Triangle of Zilker Park (Lou Neff Point) with fireworks beginning at 9:30 p.m.

Please note that all Austin Public Library locations will be closed on July 4th, but will reopen on Thursday, July 5th at 10:00 a.m. Check out these patriotic books if you just have a hankering for more after the holiday:

• Flag: An American Biography


• Stars & Stripes Forever: The History, Stories, and Memories of our American Flag


• Long May She Wave: A Graphic History of the American Flag


• The Stars and the Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the Republic to the Present


• The Pocket Book of Patriotism


• Founding Myths: Stories that Hide our Patriotic Past


• Patriotism and the American Land: Essays