Thousands watched in awe as fireworks lit up the evening sky along A1A at Fort Lauderdale Beach.
The burst of color ignited the dark skies and reflected brilliantly on the ocean.
It was the climatic finish to what had been a full day of celebration.
People danced to a live band rocking a stage since 1 p.m. and families played on the beach.
While many of us would view the festivities as a party, David Abrahams sees it a bit differently. For him, the event itself is a symbol of freedom.
"It's unbelievable," he told Local 10's Christina Vazquez. "I just got back from Afghanistan. The places I've been you would never be able to get thousands of people out on the street and just having fun and not worrying about whether someone was going to do something bad."
Abrahams has been on a few back-to-back tours in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, making this 4th of July the first in four years he can enjoy it at home with his wife Carolyn and their 7-year-old son Mayson.
His wife told Local 10, "I'm going to cry just thinking about it. The people that are together and celebrating the freedom that we have is such a wonderful thing and to have my husband home is wonderful because so many of our friends didn't get that chance. So to have him home and being able to take part in all of this and teach my son to be a man is more than I could ever do, it's something that a lot of my friends didn't get the opportunity to do."
The couple said they just moved to South Florida last month. David is now stationed at Southern Command.
David told Local 10 ever since he returned from Afghanistan in April, he's been looking forward to the 4th of July "because it celebrates everything we do and it makes me feel good."