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View from Bryant Avenue, 8 PM this evening. No crowds were visiting the amusements, right center of picture. and no crowd was on the spectator hill. Frequent lightning and moderate rain was the weather.

As rain grew heavier, then lightened up fireworks were started at 8:30 P.M.

WPCNR CITY SCENE. July 2, 2014:

With cloud-to-cloud lightning and moderate rain coming down at 8:15 P.M. (light rain and grumbling thunder had growled and prowled across the skies since 5:30 P.M. )the White Plains fireworks were ignited at 8:30 P.M. a half-hour earlier than scheduled before a sparse crowd that had parked cars in the lot above the softball field, if they were spectators.

No spectators were on the  swale of the hill sloping down from the White Plains High School Natatorium (where the big crowds for this event usually gather), and there was no overflow of parking in the Haviland Manor neighborhood, adjacent the high school. No crowds were at the vendors and games exhibits on the athletic fields. There was no music. This was the first time this reporter can remember the fireworks going off in such unstable weather conditions.

Police had been fielding calls all evening asking if the fireworks were on.

They were and they went on.

With worse conditions forecast for tomorrow evening the city was in a difficult situation to decide whether or not to use the rain date tomorrow.