To celebrate the Fourth of July, here’s a look at WaterFire, the public art installation in
Providence — 100 bonfires burning along the city’s three rivers. Started in 1994, it’s 15 years old now, but locals say it still draws 40,000 to 60,000 people to the city each time it’s put on (WaterFire happens more than a dozen times each summer). (Corrected per comment below.)
Artist Barnaby Evans has won several awards for it.
In 1997, The Providence Journal called it “the most
popular work of art created in the capital
city’s…history.”
You can read more about WaterFire here.
Happy Independence Day.
20,000 – 40,000 attend an event. WaterFire has 1,100,000 attendees annually on a bad year!