A little thing like a fireworks ban wasn't going to keep Adrian Jones and his son, Alexander, from celebrating the Fourth of July their way.
Saturday afternoon, Jones and his 8-year-old son loaded up two bags of fireworks at one of three sales tents on the curve at 31st Street and Kasold Drive. Tonight they will leave Lawrence, where a fireworks ban is now in its second year, to shoot their fireworks at a friend's place in Jefferson County.
"It's almost un-American not to shoot fireworks on the Fourth of July," said Jones, who works for the city of Lawrence as a building inspector. "Our country has been celebrating like this for more than 200 years."
Despite bans, partial bans and a tangled web of laws that vary from state to state, county to county and city to city, fireworks are more popular than ever in the United States, and business is booming.
Fireworks use has more than tripled in the past 13 years, from 67.6 million pounds in 1990 to 220 million pounds in 2003, according to the American Pyrotechnics Assn. The association also says firework industry revenue soared to a new high of $775 million in 2003.
In Douglas County, interest in fireworks hasn't declined. Friday in Eudora, buyers braved torrential downpours and descended on the tent where the Eudora Amateur Baseball Assn. was selling fireworks to raise money.
"We had our best opening day in the four years we've been here," said Dave House, one of the managers at the tent in the parking lot outside C&S Market grocery store.
Leaving city limits
Unlike Lawrence, there are no firework bans in Eudora, Baldwin or throughout rural Douglas County. Many residents are leaving the city limits to get their explosives kick, which has affected sales at firework stands closer to Lawrence.
Austin Noll, 12, Lawrence, inspects a package of firecrackers at a firework stand near Teepee Junction. Noll and his family were planning to set off their fireworks Saturday at Wells Overlook. The second year of a ban on fireworks within Lawrence's city limits are sending firework enthusiasts elsewhere in Douglas County.
"We've had several people tell us that they were going to take their fireworks to Clinton Lake or Wells Overlook (Park) this year," said Eric Garrett, who was managing his family's firework stand at Franklin Road and Kansas Highway 10 east of Lawrence.
Actually, fireworks are banned at Clinton Lake also, but are allowed at the two county-operated parks, Wells Overlook and Lone Star Lake.
As more Lawrence residents find other locations to shoot backyard fireworks, Garrett holds out hope business might rebound to pre-ban levels.
But brothers Gary and Larry Bartz, co-chairmen of the Douglas County Fireworks Assn., don't think business for firework stands close to Lawrence ever will regain that sales level, unless the ban is rescinded.
"I suppose, if we get a new City Commission it could happen," Larry Bartz said. "There are places where it has been done."
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The American Pyrotechnics Assn. has called for anti-fireworks organizations to stop what it claims are misleading campaigns against the sales and use of fireworks. The association maintains fireworks today are safer than ever. The National Council on Fireworks Safety agreed.
Firework-related injuries have been in decline. Nationwide, in 1990 there were 12,000 firework-related injuries, while in 2002 there were 8,800, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
"The only fire from fireworks today comes from misusing them," Gary Bartz said.
Charles Mermann, 15, of Eudora, works at a tent selling fireworks at Kansas Highway 10 and Franklin Avenue. A ban on fireworks within Lawrence is sending residents to outlying areas for their own holiday displays.
Public displays
While the backyard firework industry is doing well, the same cannot be said for public firework displays, association officials said. Additional regulations that came after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and increased insurance and transportation costs have taken their toll on public displays.
The Lawrence Jaycees needed additional financial help this year to improve its annual display at Burcham Park. The Jaycees received donations from Emprise Bank and the city of Lawrence, allowing the purchase of more and better fireworks while deciding themselves to pick up additional insurance costs.
But the once-popular Perry Lake fireworks show was ended last year because of dramatic insurance costs to the operators of the lake's marina, which organized the display. Security also was a concern to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"I don't think it will ever return," said Debra Best, co-owner of the marina with her husband, Bob Best.
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