I didn’t know which was actually first, but I read that many cities had celebrations that summer on different days, depending on how fast the copies of the Declaration were delivered. And (I suppose) how fast a celebration could be arranged and publicized.

That the first U.S. Independence Day celebration was on July 8, 1776? I was in Philadelphia following the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. Some of the founding fathers thought that the 8th would be the day we celebrated annually.

I always remember this fact because I celeberate my independence day on July 8; from my mothers womb.