USA! USA! Eat hot dogs, watch fireworks, and shed a single tear for liberty on the Fourth of July, the red, white, and bluest day of the year. Berkeley’s July 4 celebration brings food trucks, artisan craft vendors, free dragon boat rowing, live pony rides, a petting zoo, Nerf Tag, Sumo balls, inflatable bouncy area, and much more—America at its best. Spectacular fireworks over the water south of the Berkeley Pier at 9:35 p.m. July 4, noon-10 p.m. Free, $15 parking fee. Berkeley Marina, 201 University Ave., Berkeley, www.Ci.Berkeley.ca.us/home.aspx.

Everyone loves a parade, and 170 floats and 2,500 participants make the 3-mile Mayor’s Fourth of July Parade in Alameda the perfect way to celebrate that good, old ingenuity that sent the British king packing and started a brand, grand new experiment called America. July 4, 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. Starts at 1417 Park St., Alameda, www.AlamedaParade.com.

The Jack London Square July 4th Festival of Family Fun parties like it’s 1779. Enjoy free music, patriotic American dishes, watch performing stilt walkers, and heckle a puppet show as is your right as an American. July 4, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. Jack London Square, Embarcadero West, Oakland, www.JackLondonSquare.com.