HNY!
This is one of the few times a year that I miss working in the SoHo/TriBeCa area.... just a short walk to soak in the celebration.
It's so different now since Giuliani banned fireworks in NYC a while back. Mott and Bayard used to feel like a battle zone with kids chucking bricks of firecrackers and M80s down from the roofs. One of my most memorable times as a kid were the fireworks wars we had with the neighborhood kids. My favorite weapon of choice were roman candles, but they were pretty expensive even back then, but if you got a direct shot on someone's stock pile, we all got an insane show. Haha, this is crazy, point was not to hit each other but instead disable the other's stash.
But I get it about safety first