After Storms Burst in Air, Mall Fireworks Pop on Cue

Despite the heat, Michele Lowman of Ellicott City was doing things the traditional way. Decked out in red, her daughters Madison, 9, and Jordan, 6, wore dresses bearing frills with the national colors. Lowman's family flew in from Florida to join the festivities.

"I'm feeling very patriotic," she said as she pointed out the Raggedy Ann float in the parade to her daughters and nieces.

That is exactly what Satish Kumar, a U.S. citizen born in India, said he was thinking as he watched a Taiwanese band pass and listened to the pulse of a tabla drum that accompanied the Sheiks of America float.

"It gives me a sense of involvement, participation, assimilation, and certainly is a part of the American evolution for me," said Kumar, a software analyst who lives in Northern California and has been working in the District for the past two months. "See the world situation, symbolically we are saying to the world, 'We aspire to this freedom, we enjoy it, and we will do our best to keep it up.' "

All Clear for Main Event

National Park Service officials said they never considered canceling or postponing the fireworks. The National Weather Service was consulted, and the all-clear was given until 11 p.m. By 6:30, the crowds -- wet but determined -- had begun to return.

Many were scrounging around for cardboard boxes or other makeshift seating for the muddy ground. "If they would have canceled it, I would have been so bummed," said Leslie Boltz, 53, on vacation from Akron, Ohio.

Park officials were reluctant to estimate the size of the crowd, but one official said at least 500,000 came out for the fireworks. Those who frequent the event said there appeared to be fewer people this year.

After the fireworks, District transportation officials planned to flip a switch to change the timing of traffic lights and whisk crowds out of the city.

Officials learned Sept. 11, 2001, that a mass exodus would jam roads and Metro stations, with hundreds of people waiting for trains and thousands in gridlock. Right after last year's Fourth of July fireworks on the Mall, transportation officials tried Operation Fast Forward, a local version of the regional plan put in place last night. This year, Operation Fast Forward II wound down on schedule about 11 p.m., with organizers calling the exercise a success.

"All reports from our crews on the street . . . are so far, so good," said Erik Linden, a spokesman for the District Department of Transportation. Metro reported more than 338,000 total riders for the day by 9 p.m., with thousands more heading for the stations later on.

Staff writers Megan Greenwell, Susan Kinzie, Susan Levine, Nick Miroff, Candace Rondeaux, Shearon Roberts, Philip Rucker, Robert Samuels, Sandhya Somasherkars and Debbi Wilgoren contributed to this report.