The best alternative fireworks show is coming to North Dallas: The Sensory Sensitive Fourth of July Celebration returns to The Sound at Cypress Waters on Wednesday, July 3.

The Sound is the mixed-use complex on North Lake with residences, restaurants, hiking & biking trails, and a one-acre park. They host weekly programming including live music, pop-up markets, outdoor movies, festivals, and the like.

This celebration featuring "silent fireworks" is the only one in DFW to provide a festive alternative to traditional fireworks, and is ideal for people who are sensitive to loud noises including veterans, individuals on the Autism spectrum, and pets.

The program includes musical performances and other various family activities — but instead of ending with explosive fireworks, it concludes with the Star-Spangled Glow, an LED Bracelet Experience that lights up the night without the booms and bangs.

LED bracelets are the buzzy event amenity used by musicians like Taylor Swift, which can be programmed to blink in response to music. At The Sound's event, they will synchronize with a soundtrack of uplifting Americana songs.

Silent fireworks
“Silent” fireworks — which create a dazzling light show but without noisy explosions — have been around for 30 years but started growing in popularity about a decade ago with some cities choosing them over traditional fireworks.

The Sound began doing them in 2022, says Cypress Waters Community Relations and Events Marketing Manager Marci Parrish, who had a hand in launching the event.

Parrish previously worked in the radio industry and was at a big local fireworks event with a coworker who had been deployed in Iraq. "When the fireworks started, he disappeared. He was hiding in a truck," she says.

"After I joined the Billingsley Co., we were brainstorming on doing something big at The Sound on July 4, and I discovered that no one else was doing a silent version like this," she says. "We wanted to offer something for everyone including that demographic that ordinarily won't go out on July 4."

This will be its fourth year, and she says that the response has been "overwhelmingly positive," with new organizations and partners including Parkland Hospital and the Veterans Center of North Texas joining in.

Fireworks are equally traumatic to pets and wildlife — a major concern in cities across Texas, which is plagued by a loose animal problem. Animals get terrified by the noisy explosions and bolt — making July 4th one of the two most overwhelming days of the year for animal shelters and animal control officers.

Sensory Sensitive 4th of July Celebration
Thursday, July 3 from 6-10 pm at The Sound at Cypress Waters, 3111 Olympus Blvd., Dallas

• 6-8 pm: Demonstrations, face painting, balloon artist, Kona shaved ice
• 7:30-9:30 pm: Live concert by Reputation: A Taylor Swift Tribute at the Rogers-O’Brien Amphitheater
• 9:40–10 pm: Star-Spangled Glow – an immersive LED Bracelet Experience