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Happy 234th America

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By Sabri Ben-Achour

Folks around the region turned out in large crowds to watch fireworks and the annual Fourth of July concert on the Mall.

The skies were aglitter Sunday night across the metro area as America turned 234 years old.

The largest fireworks display was on the National Mall, it was preceded by the Capitol Fourth Concert which featured Gladys Knight, Reba McEntire and David Archuleta.

In the early evening D.C. firefighters at the Washington Monument sprayed water hoses over a grateful crowd seeking to cool down from sweltering heat.

A spokesman for the American Red Cross said volunteers treated more than 300 cases of dehydration throughout the day.

The National Park Service does not provide crowd estimates, but numbers released by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority suggested over 400,000 turned out Sunday for the concert, which was broadcast to millions more across the country.

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