Fireworks, drone shows light up Bay Area skies on 4th of July

The skies above the Bay Area were lit with the colors of fireworks Thursday night.

At San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square, thousands packed the shoreline for hours ahead of the show.

That included Wesley Ammons and his family, who drove in from the East Bay.

He says while they normally watch the show from Alameda, this year his kids wanted a closer look.

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"We were actually going to Alameda beach, and my kids would pinpoint each little firework that would go across the Bay," Ammons said.

Throughout the entire day, the streets of the city were buzzing - with everything from performances to food to crowds of people.

Along The Embarcadero, thousands came out to enjoy the warm day.

That included Andre Arroyo who says the 4th of July is one of his favorite days of the year.

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"Lot of people selling stuff, got dancers out here. Of course, the fireworks. You know a lot of the families are out here," Arroyo said.

At Pier 35, the USS Jeremiah O'Brien was offering a special viewing opportunity for Thursday's fireworks performance.

Guests there could go onboard the ship starting at 7 p.m. for one of the best views in San Francisco.

"The tugs with the barges will be right out there. And if the fog doesn't come in high, the fireworks will be right above us," said Charles Howell.

And while the fireworks themselves were reason enough for people to descend on the city Thursday others, like Olajewon Dessasure, came from Manteca just to escape the heat.

"It was 110, 115. It's 70 now so we're cool," he said.

Drones take to Sunnyvale skies in place of fireworks

For the first Fourth of July in Sunnyvale, drones took to the sky in place of fireworks.

Three-hundred drones launched 400 feet above Baylands Park creating different images. The show lasted for 8 minutes, and the drone team working to make all this happen - were 100 yards away.

Before it got dark we were, able to capture the Pixis Drone team conduct their hover tests.

The lead pilot, Hali Hopkins explained each drone is controlled by a battery.

"It knows where it's at in space, we send the path file and it's like - OK, so this is my job today so it figures out with choreography because when they're up in flight it's a dance," Hopkins said.

Hopkins said each drone is equipped with three LED lights .

"You can see the images from about two miles away, and you can see the lights from about five miles out," Hopkins said.

Hopkins talked about the environmental benefits of this kind of show.

"There's no risk of forest fires with this and we're really able to tell a story rather than just give them, like oh my gosh like these big booms and fireworks for celebration," Hopkins said.

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She showed us the "control station" where they run two computers with the automated show programmed.

"Really it's a growing industry it's only three years old," Hopkins said.

From the control station to Baylands Park, crowds of families were pouring in.

Mayor Larry Klein was inspired to bring a drone show to the city after seeing one last year.

"It's a safe alternative to fireworks especially as we're sitting in continuous droughts every summer this is a great solution. You know and it also doesn't have the noise pollution that people complain about," Klein said.

Even furry friends were able to join in on the fun.

Jennifer Lin said she's seen a drone show on TV, but never in person. She convinced her friend to bring her dog Sami to this drone show.

Her friend Becky said this is the first time she's been able to go out for the Fourth with her dog Sami.

"I'm really looking forward to the fact that the crowd is so close, I can hear them cheer and that's my absolute favorite part of any of the shows," Hopkins said.

Mayor Klein said they used to have July 4th events back in the 70s. He's confident they will be able to create a bigger and better show next year.