San Francisco’s Fireworks Show Lights Up Karl the Fog for America’s 250th

“I was stoked,” said Zack Hoberg, who watched the display near Fort Point National Historical Site. “It was really cool, even when the fireworks were getting a little bit indistinct and lighting up the clouds instead of being just pure fireworks or whatever. There was a fun vibe, lots of people.”

The15-minute display was the first time Fourth of July fireworks have been shot from the Golden Gate Bridge’s towers — which some of the thousands who braved the congested streets and crammed Muni trains for views said might be for good reason.

“If only there were some way to tell if the bridge was a good place to put fireworks, perhaps by looking at the past 30 years of July 4th weather there,” one Reddit poster said.

But Hoberg, 35, who’s lived in San Francisco for more than a decade, said he’d known it’d be a foggy scene. He also checked out webcams of the Bay shoreline prior to biking over to the Presidio, where he said he and others lining the railings along Marine Drive got a worthwhile show.

“You could see both the fireworks going off from the deck of the bridge, that they were setting off from the south tower, and you could see the fireworks that were going off from the barge mid-bay. Everything that went high turned a little bit indistinct, but you could still see the light,” he said.

People who watched the fireworks from further away, like Jan Martinez, had a more obstructed view.

Knowing there was a high chance of fog disruptions, Martinez opted to stay at her home in North Beach, where she could see the barge shooting off fireworks near Pier 39.

“You couldn’t see anything high because it was high fog, but when they came down closer to the water, then you could see the fireworks,” she told KQED.

The special display was San Francisco’s only official fireworks event of the year. Still, stray sparks lit the sky from the Mission to the Fillmore as some locals avoided the logistical nightmare of getting to the sanctioned show.

“I just stayed and kicked it with the homies, got some fireworks and did that on the block,” North Beach resident Freddy Calderon said.

Martinez said that while it would have been nice to have a clearer show, Saturday’s festivities were very San Francisco.

“Very often, we have colored fog instead of fireworks, but it’s the best we can do, and you just have to chuckle about it,” she said.

KQED’s Desmond Meagley contributed to this report.