LJWorld.com

Selling fireworks in Douglas County is a booming business, despite increasing federal and state regulations and a four-year-old ban on their use in Lawrence.

"I think people want to celebrate the Fourth of July like they always did. Fireworks is a tradition we've always had," fireworks vendor Eric Garrett said.

The Independence Day holiday only comes once a year, but for Garrett, selling fireworks is a full-time, year-round business. The 24-year-old Eudoran has sold fireworks since he was a boy. He operates a family-owned business, Uncle Sam's Fireworks & Innovations LLC.

Garrett also has his own line of fireworks called Grand Patriot Fireworks, complete with a Web site at www.grandpatriotfireworks.com. He maintains an office in China where he purchases fireworks. He and other employees design and test their own fireworks, which they then have manufactured and sold.

"I've got a motorcycle and home there, too," Garrett said of the operation in China. "I don't go to China very often, but when I do, I stay for four to six months."

During his visits to China he has learned what he calls "conversational Mandarin Chinese."

He now runs 17 fireworks stands throughout Kansas, including one off Kansas Highway 10 on Franklin Road just east of Lawrence.

Douglas County doesn't allow the storage of fireworks, so Garrett and other local vendors have to find storage facilities in nearby counties. Garrett's fireworks are kept in trailers at a storage facility he owns in Osage County.

Fireworks revenue soars

As of last week, Garrett had obtained one of 11 fireworks sales permits issued by Douglas County. Jeremy and Linda Long have obtained another one for their stand on Haskell Avenue about a mile south of 31st Street. They also have fireworks stands in Franklin and Osage counties.

For Jeremy Long, 24, selling fireworks is a seasonal job. The Washburn University student also works as a landscaper.

Long attends demonstrations by five or six fireworks companies and then "takes the cream of the crop" to sell at his stands.

"The basic concept of fireworks is the same, but they are making them safer," Long said. "I see something different every year, but I don't quite know how to describe them. A lot of people get tired of the same thing every year."

Long, Garrett and others say fireworks sales in Douglas County took a hit in 2003 when the city of Lawrence banned them. Sales have since rebounded considerably, they said.

Nationwide, backyard fireworks sales have never been more popular, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association. In 2006, the fireworks industry saw revenues soar to more than $900 million, with consumer fireworks representing two-thirds of the industry revenue.

Since 2000, the use of backyard fireworks has more than doubled. In 2000, Americans used 102 million pounds of backyard fireworks. By 2004, that had gone up to 212 million pounds, according to the pyrotechnics association.

Family tradition ending

Even though fireworks sales are growing, one Douglas County family with a 60-year tradition of selling fireworks is getting out of the business after this year.

The Pine family fireworks stand is north of Lawrence at Tee Pee Junction, near North Third Street and U.S. Highway 24-40. Closing is something the family has been considering for two years. It almost shut down after 2005, Jim Pine said.

"None of our kids wants to take over; nobody has the time," Jim Pine said. "That's OK. It's tough. There is a lot of work, and it's hard for everybody to get together anymore."

The Pines also are tired of trying to keep up with a continuing increase in rules and regulations on the fireworks industry. Last year they replaced their wooden stand and moved under a fire-retardant tent as required by state law.

They incur about $5,000 in expenses setting up the stand and then run the risk that wet or extremely dry weather might disrupt July Fourth celebrations.

"All those things lean on you, and you just may not recover," Pine said.