Yes, it was 10 days early, but residents from the Baldwin-Whitehall area and its surrounding communities didn't seem to mind celebrating Independence Day on June 24, this year.

Whitehall Borough's Caste Village shopping area, with sponsorship from the Caste Village Merchants Association, hosts an annual fireworks show around July 4. The association makes every effort not to compete with Pittsburgh's other Independence Day celebrations, which accounts for Whitehall's early date this year.

The renowned Pyrotecnico company launched Caste's 2011 fireworks, and although attendance numbers aren't in for this year's show, a representative from The Royal Mile Company said that 2010's attendance was estimated at around 20,000 people immediately surrounding Caste Village.

The Royal Mile Company manages the popular shopping area.

Whitehall Police Department Chief Donald R. Dolfi told the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch shortly before the fireworks started on Friday that the shopping area was not as crowded as it had been in years past due to a threat of rain. Dolfi said that the streets surrounding Caste Village, though, were packed with folks watching from their yards and patios.

View the photo gallery located toward the right side of this page to enjoy part of the experience.

(The B-W Patch apologizes to those people who posed for pictures and are not in this article's photo gallery. A technological error contributed to the loss of some photos.)