Rescheduled fireworks, Jazz Fest encore draw crowds to downtown Elkhart

ELKHART, Ind. -- After severe weather forced Elkhart's Fourth of July fireworks celebration to be postponed, residents gathered Saturday evening at Central Green Park to enjoy the rescheduled festivities as improving weather and air quality brought people back outdoors.

Heavy rain moved through the area earlier in the afternoon, but once the showers cleared, people began arriving at the park for the Elkhart Jazz Festival Encore performance by Couch ahead of the city's fireworks display.

Bryce and Jordan Cone, who attended the event, said they were glad the weather cooperated after the earlier storms.

"I think the weather realizes that something awesome is going on, so it wants to stay away," Bryce Cone said.

The couple had recently returned from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where wildfire smoke had created hazardous air conditions.

"We just spent the last week in the U.P. where the index was over 500 and hiking out in the woods and what not, so this is awesome," Jordan Cone said. "People should get out."

Air quality in Elkhart had improved significantly by Saturday evening, with the Air Quality Index falling below 100 after several days of elevated readings caused by wildfire smoke drifting into the region.