Brief drizzle Friday afternoon served as the perfect remedy to the day's humid weather, creating a comfortable atmosphere for the city's 11th Celebrate Lancaster! festival.

The party started with food vendors opening along North Queen Street at 11:30 a.m., selling hot dogs, french fries and fresh-squeezed lemonade.

Lancaster Brewing Co. spread the word about its new chicken skewers, which combined grilled chicken and pineapple on a kabob stick.

According to server Tifani Ennis, the concoction was just one of the many creations cooked up by head chef Russell Skiles.

"We were really busy earlier today," Ennis said. "We couldn't keep them grilling fast enough."

Michael and Maria Brown and their children, Nayala, Michael and Aja tried the skewers, and were surprised at how good the combination tasted.

The Browns have been attending Celebrate Lancaster! for years.

"We've kind of made it a tradition," Michael Brown said.

The family even has a "secret spot" to watch the fireworks from — the parking lot of the Kearney A. Snyder Funeral Home, 141 E. Orange St.

"There's nothing blocking the way so it's a straight shot, like the fireworks are right on top of you," Michael Brown said with a smile.

There was a full slate of entertainment in Binns Park before the big blasts began at 10 p.m.

Heads Up Lancaster started the show at 7:30 p.m. with an urban arts showcase featuring city youth and teens.

Heads Up — Helping Empower and Develop Students Unleashing Potential — uses multicultural urban arts to encourage youth to have a vision, to provoke people to be passionate about their purpose in life.

The showcase included performances by several programs within the organization, including kids' capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art that turns the aspects of fighting into a graceful dance.

However, Chris Torchia's Bboys break dance crew and the Dance Fusion team stole the show, with several young dancers "popping" and spinning on their heads.

Gabriel "Lil G" Class, 10, and René Martinez, 9, of Dance Fusion said they were a little nervous for the show but excited to perform their moves in front of the packed park.

The rising fifth-graders' trademark move was a duo handstand, slapping hands with one another while their feet were in the air.

"We get to learn different dances and then at the end we get to do freestyle," René said of the class, which meets three times a week.

Gabriel, René and René's sister, Jazmin, 11, also shared raps that they wrote in the Street Beats and DJing program, where they learn new words and how to rhyme.

Abandoned Lyrics, a music-based mentorship program made up of youths ages 12 to 19 closed out the showcase with a hip-hop dance medley.

Watching from the back of Binns Park with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Janet Simms was impressed by the program from Heads Up.

"I just think it's great to have the young people taking an interest in other young people," Simms said of the group. "You just don't see that."

Heads Up will host a free Urban Arts Festival in Lancaster Square from July 6 to 9, with free demonstrations and workshops.

The evening's main performance, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, back for a second consecutive year, took the stage at 8:30 p.m.

The orchestra performed a set list designed for the downtown festival, combining traditional patriotic songs with swing and show tunes.

Maestro Stephen Gunzenhauser said the pieces all represented different things that the orchestra thought of as American, including the Ringley Bros Circus, "Pops Hoedown" and Mr. Broadway, George Cohan.

An avid Phillies baseball fan, Gunzenhauser dedicated the orchestra's performance of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" to the late Philadelphia sportscaster Harry Kalas, with narration by baritone John Darrenkamp.

The fireworks show erupted from the Duke Street parking garage just after 10 p.m. despite the forecast for storms. It dazzled the crowd while echoing throughout the city.

E-mail: smweaver@lnpnews.com