Did you procrastinate and suddenly find yourself on the brink of the Fourth of July without any plans to see any fireworks? Or did the Fourth creep up and catch you unaware (like me!) because you’ve been too busy with kids, and now you need to find a place to watch the fireworks? Or are you freaked out by the heightened security at the Mall and now don’t want to go there?

Never fear. Plenty of choices here in the DC area to watch fireworks.

The Washington Post has compiled a quite impressive list of locations (listed by county) where you can watch fireworks. Clicking on a county pulls up a list of locations throughout the county, including editor’s picks and a super-useful link to a map of these locations. Who knew that Montgomery County has no less than four places where you can watch fireworks — Gaithersburg, Germantown, Rockville, and Takoma Park? But none got the coveted Editor’s Pick, hmm. Anne Arundel, Howard, and St. Mary’s Counties only have one firework event apiece, but Prince George’s County has a whopping five locations. Again, all without Editor’s Picks. Virginia counties have even more locations, although this one worries me: Fairfax Fourth of July’s fireworks will be held “inside the high school stadium.” I hope that stadium’s open to the outdoors. Several Virginia locations did get Editor’s Picks — do I perceive a certain Washington Post bias against Maryland?

WTOP, one of my favorite sources for local news, also has a 3-page list of places to see Fourth of July fireworks — although without editor’s picks and mapping functions. NBC4 likewise has a lengthy list of places where you can see red, white, and blue fireworks to your heart’s desire.

Me? I’m gonna kick back in my screened porch, sip lemonade, and watch the Germantown Glory Fireworks Display.

Happy Fourth!