NEW YORK—The Fourth of July weekend is shaping up as a celebration for Americans watching fireworks around the country—and for three elephants and a turtle.

In Key West, Fla., an ailing sea turtle that was rescued before Inauguration Day and named after President Barack Obama was set free on Independence Day. From the sand, it swam into the wild waters.

And on Brooklyn’s Coney Island, the elephants rested after eating 505 hot dog buns in six minutes Friday, winning a competition against three humans who downed 143 buns. It was a sideshow to an iconic Fourth of July event—Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, won Saturday afternoon by Joey Chestnut, who chomped down a record 68 dogs.

The day began with the Statue of Liberty’s crown opening to the public for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. At about 9 a.m., the first huddled masses huffed and puffed their way up the 354 cramped steps to take in the spectacular view of Manhattan.

After nightfall, more than 22 tons of pyrotechnics—the nation’s biggest fireworks display—are set to explode over a mile-and-a-half stretch of the Hudson River, a new vantage point for New York’s festivities. Millions of spectators expected to watch from both sides of the river.

The celebration returned to Manhattan’s West Side for the first time since the 9/11 attacks. The extravaganza was expanded this year with more than 44,000 shells.

While the recession forced many communities to scale down, or even cancel, their fireworks, “we’re a country of survivors and fighters, and we try to make things work,” said Gary Souza, whose family-owned, California-based company is staging the New York display as well as hundreds of others across the country—including the nation’s capital.

President Obama, speaking to military families at the White House for Independence Day festivities, told the service members they were “the latest, strongest link in that unbroken chain that stretches back to the Continental Army.”