Boom businesses brace for barrage of buyers

Brendon Dame of McCook, checks out the cornucopia of fireworks with his father, Roger Dame. Which one is his favorite? "Everything!" (Lorri Sughroue/McCook Daily Gazette) [Click to enlarge]

"Eighty percent of my sales come from on July 3 and 4," said Eric Hutto of Trenton, who owns 10 firework stands across Nebraska, including one operated by the McCook Optimists in exchange for a percentage of sales.

One trend Hutto noted already that he hadn't expected are people purchasing larger items now instead of waiting until the last minute, such as the cake artillery shells with multiple rockets. These seem to give more bang for the buck, he explained, with some lasting as long as minute.

"A minute may not seem too long but when you're watching fireworks it's a great display," he said.

Hobb has been selling fireworks for 16 years but said choosing what items to stock is still a guessing game.

"I can never figure out what the public will buy from year to year," he admitted, with one item selling great one year and the next year, fizzle. Old standbys he said he can always count on are artillery shells, or smaller items that whistle, pop and sparkle and "zips," spinning fireworks that elevate from the ground and were illegal until a few years ago.

New fireworks allowed by the State Fire Marshal include artillery shells with large, sturdier tubes that don't fall over as much and give a larger, longer display.

The basic rule of thumb on what is legal or not is "if it goes up hot, it has to come down cold," Hotto said, which eliminates items such as bottle rockets.

A new seller also allowed this year are artillery shells with double or triple explosions instead of just one.

At a stand operated by the Peace Lutheran Church Youth, hot sellers are a fountain that displays six different effects, artillery shells, assortment packs and novelty items for smaller kids, like the snappers and firecracker-driven cars and motorcycles.

Sales are slower than this time last year said Robin Calvin but she expects things to fire up by July 4th. The economic crunch may actually work in their favor, as she's heard that many are choosing to stay home to celebrate the holiday rather than do much traveling.

Fireworks runs the gamut from the large, graphically-packaged explosives with rugged names like "Boyz Toyz" and "Hit and Run," to cute "Baby Gorilla" firecrackers and parachutes. But whatever the name or display, what drives most sales are the weather and the day July 4th falls on, vendors said.

Wade Felker, whose family has been operating a stand for several years in McCook, said a rainy and soggy July Fourth will extinguish many sales. But with the Fourth falling on Saturday this year and only a chance of thunderstorms, he looks for sales to take off.

"People can stay up longer to shoot them off and not have to worry about going to work the next day," he said of the holiday weekend.

Urban areas have their perks but nothing beats a small town on the Fourth of July, evidenced by the large amount of fireworks sold to out-of-towners.

Those visiting relatives in the area from cities or states that prohibit fireworks are always amazed at the selection allowed here, he said and scoop up as much as they can.

Alcohol sales shoot up on July Fourth and those in the partying mood are also reliable customers. Those who drink a lot tend to buy a lot, vendors said.

With six firework stands in the city, the Fourth of July has been remarkably calm the past several years, according to City Fire Chief Marc Harpham. Most of the calls they've had were dumpster fires, caused when fireworks already lit off but still hot are thrown into the trash and kids throwing firecrackers in dumpsters.

On the whole, though, no serious fires have been started in the area, something Harpham is grateful for.

"We've been very fortunate that we haven't had any major incidents," he continued and attributed it to more people being smart, safe and using common sense.

Common sense and safety can go a long way in keeping fireworks around for awhile, Hutto agreed.

"The most important thing is people to stay safe so we can keep them legal," he said. "I can't imagine being a 10-year-old boy and not being allowed to light fireworks."