Thousands enjoy fireworks lighting up the night sky in Scottsdale

Thousands visited Scottsdale's WestWorld to watch fireworks, enjoy live music and even an ice slide on July 4.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Thousands of Arizonans watched Fourth of July fireworks light up the night sky on Sunday and one of the biggest shows is in north Scottsdale with thousands of people waiting to see beautiful, colorful explosions.

At around 5 p.m., the event was just getting started with people trickling into the indoor portion of the event at WestWorld, with thousands of people expected to fill the seats, but not as many as a typical July 4th because of the pandemic.

The three-section event usually sees at least 20,000 spectators each holiday.

"Celebrating July 4th finally without little COVID restrictions. Last year was a little different. This year we are expecting to have 10,000 of our closest friends watching the biggest fireworks in the history of Scottsdale …" said Kerry Dunne.

The Scottsdale event has a live band, broadway singers and even an ice slide.

This outing is the first for many in a while because of the pandemic.

"My kids always enjoy it and we haven’t seen fireworks in public in over two years," said Ligia Murza from Sun City.

Her family says it’s a wonderful day to celebrate freedom in America.

"If you’re an American, you can be free to do whatever you want as long as it is by the law," says 10-year-old Julianna.

Scott Siner also wanted to celebrate family, saying, "Being able to do all this … Spend time with the family and celebrate everything that got us here."

The event also raised about $10,000 for at Mary’s Food Bank.