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Advertisement for the 4th of July celebration from 1973
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Worlds of Fun opened for the very first time on May 26, 1973, and even in 1973, they celebrated, though the 4th of July would fall on a Wednesday that year. The 1973 celebration, according to the advertisement, included a Watermelon Feed, Band Concerts, and Fireworks displays. Keeping in mind the Forum Amphitheater, an integral part of decades of 4th of July celebrations, didn’t even exist yet.
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| Rick Nelson at the Forum |
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Rick Nelson at the Forum
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| 1974 Advertisement, the first season to introduce the Forum. |
The Forum would open in June 1974, and would immediately become the Star-Spangled center of Independence Day Celebrations as part of what the park called Superstars and Stripes Nights. Rick Nelson (Garden Party) would play on the 4th of July Weekend in 1974, 1975, and 1978 and would be an icon of the Forum for five seasons. Other superstars of the Forum in the 1970s included Kenny Rogers (1974), Bo Donaldson (1974-1975), Lou Rawls (1974), BJ Thomas (1975), Roy Clark (1976), Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr (1977).
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| 1976 promotional advertisement |
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| Sam Panda, Grrtrude Gorilla and Dan'l Coon greet guests at the new Bicentennial Square in 1976! |
Of course, no bigger 4th of July Celebration could be better than the one for America’s 200th birthday! 1976 would be lauded by the park as a year-long celebration, where every day was the 4th of July! To help celebrate, they inaugurated the first of the park’s many land expansions, Bicentennial Square, with its cornerstone being the Arrow Development Screamroller roller coaster, the first coaster in Missouri to go upside down!
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1977 4th of July Advertisement, the first to introduce The Bomb
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| 1978 4th of July Advertisement. |
Another long-remembered tradition got its start in the 1970s too, and it was called The Bomb. Premiering in 1977 and a tradition until 1985, the Bomb was advertised in 1977 as “the single biggest aerial firework shell ever set off anywhere on the planet”, 24 inches in diameter, 125 lbs in weight, and requiring a 1-ton mortar to shoot it off. A Kansas City-local company, Wald & Co would shoot it off every year along with up to 300 additional firework shells.
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| Fireworks over Worlds of Fun from late 1970's/early 1980's |
The 1980’s continued the theme forward with Superstar concerts on the 4th of July weekend, including Tom T. Hall in 1981, Don McLean (American Pie) in 1982, and Eddie Rabbit in 1983. By 1985, crowds were still attending the weekend festivities as park General Manager, Dave Busch, reported over 50,000 attended Worlds of Fun Thursday through Sunday (July 4-7th).
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| 1988 coupon advertisement |
1986 was one of the years I would personally attend, and it was probably the first 4th of July I ever spent at the park, as I recall my mom being excited for Lee Greenwood performing at the Forum Amphitheater that year. There would be characters for the kids too as the KC Star reported, He-Man Master of the Universe (the 1980’s version) and She-Ra Princess of Power would greet guests at the park. Along with of course, fireworks, which according to General Manager Thomas Finholm packed the park with over 20,000 guests.
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| Ricky Skaggs at the Forum photo by Theresa Harter |
Ricky Skaggs at the Forum photo by Theresa Harter
For 1987, Ricky Skaggs would be the headliner for the 4th of July weekend at The Forum, and 1988 would host Crystal Gayle and Roy Clark.
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| 1989 4th of July Advertisement. |
The 1970’s were easy to follow thanks to the park’s loud and large 4th of July newspaper advertisements. The 1980s advertisements, by comparison, while full of coupons, weren’t quite as wild until 1989. With the introduction of Timber Wolf, we see the rebirth of the explosive 4th of July-specific advertisement.
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| 1991 Advertisement |
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| 1992 Advertisement |
The “what is old is new” trend continued in 1991, when Worlds of Fun again re-named its 4th of July festival and for once it was a name that stuck around… Celebrate America. Kathy Mattea would perform in concert July 1-4 with Eddie Rabbit July 5-7! The park continued to offer its half-price deals with half price after 4pm with a Coke or Diet Coke can! And of course fireworks!
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Sammy Kershaw, photo by Monica Wilson
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| Rick Trevino at the Forum, Photo by Monica Wilson |
The trend would continue over the next five years, Celebrate America with a country music concert at the Forum, keeping in mind that country music was the in-thing back in the 1990s. 1992 saw Marty Stuart and Asleep at the Wheel from June 29-July 2 and Lorrie Morgan on July 3-4. In 1993, it was Doug Stone, Lorrie Morgan, and the Charlie Daniels Band; in 1994, it was Sammy Kershaw, Patty Loveless, and Billy Dean; and in 1995, the last year of Hunt Midwest ownership, it was Rick Trevino, Diamond Rio, and Neal McCoy.
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| 1996 Advertisement |
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| Forum in 1997 |
1996 and 1997 would close out the Forum series with a bang, with the 4th of July in 1996 featuring Tracy Lawrence, Trisha Yearwood, and Aaron Tippin, and 1997 featuring David Lee Murphy and Rhett Atkins.
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| Fireworks on July 3, 2001 |
By 1998, the big 4th of July ads and Forum concerts were gone, but Celebrate America would continue with fireworks every 4th of July, this time in coordination not with a concert but with a new attraction, Summer Spectacular, a laser light and pyrotechnics show at the Forum Amphitheater, a tradition that would continue until 2004.
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| 4th of July Celebrate America advertisement from 2008 |
Four years later the park was game for a re-boot, concerts included! In 2008, the Celebrate America festival would run throughout the entire month of July, including Fireworks every Friday and Saturday night, Vintage Car Displays, DJs and Live Music, and even concerts at the renamed Heart of America Theater (still the same Forum). Concerts would only last three seasons, culminating in 2010, which was a shame because I recall riding Mamba in 2008 and having flashbacks to the 1980’s. It was awesome to see the Forum crowded again!
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| Concert Series 2010 banner |
Celebrate America festivities would continue in some shape or form throughout 2015 with fireworks every weekend in the month of July, Vintage Car displays, food discounts, and more, but few, if any, concerts. In 2011, the Forum stage was torn down after over 35 years of concerts. The theater technically still exists with the benches and AV building still standing, but it hasn’t been used today in over a decade, sadly.
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| Fireworks from the first weekend of Celebrate Americana June 20, 2026 |
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| Bicentennial Square back open! |
Celebrate America would continue on, though with fireworks displays every 4th of July, including the unusual year of 2020 when fireworks wouldn’t even be able to be watched from inside the park, but from the parking lot only. Today, we see a hopeful revitalization of the Celebrate America tradition with Celebrate Americana for 2026. Several traditions, like Bicentennial Square and the vintage car display, are again making their way back. For a company that jumped into park ownership only a few weeks before opening, it’s been a bumpy season to say the least, but there are signs they are trying, and hopefully this 4th of July will be one to remember fondly for years to come as they have been for the past 53 years.
