Fireworks are synonymous with the Fourth of July, and different people have their favorite places to watch them. Thousands in the area enjoy the Attleboro fireworks at Hayward Field, with one of the largest crowds (14,000) in the event's history on hand for last Friday evening's display, according to public safety officials.

In the Boston area, the traditional Boston Pops concert and fireworks display on the Esplanade annually attracts upwards of a half-million, and another similarly sized crowd, undeterred by the occasional rain that fell on this Fourth, came to the Hub last Friday.

Many communities across the state and in nearby Rhode Island also hold fireworks, and although some were curtailed or postponed due to the faltering economy, one of the most traditional fireworks display in the immediate area set a record this year by offering four straight nights. What's that, you say? Four straight nights of fireworks? That's precisely what occurred this Fourth of July season at McCoy Stadium, the home of your Pawtucket Red Sox. Why four nights? Because, explained PawSox public relations spokesman and North Attleboro resident Bill Wanless, the team was home July 2-5 and decided to offer fireworks nightly.

The PawSox, who were only home for those four days sandwiched in between two road trips, held shorter displays after games on July 2 against the Syracuse Chiefs (Toronto Blue Jays farm team) and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies affiliate) on July 4 and 5. Those shows were 15 to 20 minutes long, while there was about a 45-minute extravaganza after the game on July 3 against the Chiefs.

That game, Wanless said, lasted only 2 hours and 18 minutes, meaning it was still light out when the game was over. "So we showed the Red Sox game (against the Tampa Rays)," on the centerfield video scoreboard, he said, explaining that after each game, the bleachers in center and right fields have to be emptied of people for safety reasons before the fireworks can begin. The post-game fireworks for the Fourth of July date to the late '70s, when Ben Mondor bought the club, Wanless said. "It was typically only done on July 3 in conjunction with the City of Pawtucket," he said, noting that this year's blowout show on the 3rd also was put on with the Pawtucket Fireworks Committee.

"The other ones, we all put on ourselves," in conjunction with corporate sponsors. The team, he said, added Memorial Day eve and Labor Day eve fireworks when the new stadium opened in 1999; this year also had fireworks on April 19.

From the attendance numbers, this year's plan to do four consecutive nights was a success, with 10,312 and 10,128 on July 2 and 3, respectively and just under 10,000 at the Fourth of July game.

The holiday game might have lacked the Boston Pops but it did feature a very inspirational singer - John Castillo of Westwood and the Perkins School for the Blind - whose powerful a capella renditions of the "Star-Spangled Banner" before the game and "God Bless America" at the top of the seventh frame featured strong vocals that even "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell would have had to approve of. Indeed, Castillo's goosebump-producing rendition of "God Bless America" was the equivalent of the one heard during that afternoon's Red Sox-Yankees game by famed singer Ronan Tynan.

Fireworks on the Fourth started early for the PawSox as second baseman Joe Thurston and leftfielder Chris Carter, both of whom made Major League appearances with the Bosox this year, clubbed first-inning home runs and veteran PawSox first baseman Jeff Bailey, who on Monday was called up to the Red sox, won the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with a solo round-tripper to give Pawtucket a 7-6 lead over the IronPigs that held up after Chris Smith closed out the game in the top of the ninth.

Then, after a brief pause while the outfield stands were emptied, a pulsating 18-minute display ensued in the sky over McCoy Stadium. The fireworks, shot off to the tunes of "God Bless the USA," "God Bless America" and the national anthem, included patriotic red, white and blue hues during the latter song, which hit a crescendo with a five-minute, non-stop finale burst of deafening fireworks.

While the PawSox show was not as long as Boston's, it did include something not included with the Esplanade tradition: a pretty good ballgame, which is what makes these PawSox post-game displays well worth the regular price of admission. In these tough economic times, you won't find a better bargain - and you don't even have to wait until the 2009 season, as the last game-fireworks combo will take place, starting at 6:05 p.m. on Sunday Aug. 31, with the same Lehigh Valley team providing the opposition on that night before Labor Day.

LARRY KESSLER is a Sun Chronicle local news editor. Reach him at lkessler@thesunchronicle.com.