Food, games and programs topped off with spectacular fireworks displays will help Albemarle citizens from Corolla to Edenton celebrate Independence Day this Friday.

Elizabeth City's Waterfront Park will be the site of Harbor Nights July Fourth festivities. Events include a battle of the bands competition beginning at 5:30 p.m., with the winner playing warm-up for the main act, Nashville's Mountain Heart, according to a news release.

For the children, a tent with games and activities will be provided by Arts of the Albemarle and Port Discover. Vendors will begin selling food at 5 p.m. At 9 p.m. fireworks will be launched from a barge in the Pasquotank River near the waterfront. If fireworks are canceled due to rain, the display will be held Saturday.

Other festivities scheduled across the area include:

Currituck County will host an Independence Day Celebration at Currituck Heritage Park in Corolla. According to the county's travel and tourism office, the band Bomarangs will begin playing at 6 p.m. Food vendors and children's activities, including face painting and patriotic temporary tattoos, will also be available at that time. The fireworks are set to begin about 9 p.m.

The Edenton Tea Party chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution is sponsoring a reading of the Declaration of Independence at 10 a.m. on Friday, according to Nancy Nicholls, Tourism Director of the Edenton-Chowan County Tourism Development Authority. The reading will take place beside the statue of Joseph Hewes at the Chowan County Courthouse.

Edenton is scheduled to have an event in the harbor from 4 to 9 p.m. with food and entertainment. A fireworks display is set to go off at 9 p.m.

In Hertford, the festivities start at 5 p.m. with a motorless parade, according to Mary White, Perquimans County Chamber of Commerce events coordinator. Residents dressed in patriotic colors with dogs on leashes, riding in wagons, walking, skating or on bicycles are welcome to participate in the walk from Hertford Baptist Church to Missing Mill Park. Once at the park, children's games, food vendors and entertainment provided by local seniors.

Fireworks will be held over the river near the park at 9 p.m. White said that with the town's 250th anniversary, the event is set to be extra special.