Fuse lit for firework stores
Staff writer
With the Fourth of July just around the corner, seasonal fireworks stores have shot into life like a roman candle.
In Peabody, The Boom Box opened this week on the corner of 9th and Walnut Sts.
In Hillsboro, Charlie’s Fireworks opened on W D St., next to the city pool.
Marion has seen two shops open: NF Explosions next to D and J Liquor on E. Main St., and the Wholesale Fireworks tent at Main and 1st St.
It is the eighth year of running the blue-and-white wholesale tent for Allison Shults and her husband, Darrel.
“It’s a lot of work, but it’s fun to see the kids come in,” Shults said. “We have a lot of repeat customers.”
Eighth-grader Caden Ackland parked his bike next to the tent and wandered into the store Tuesday afternoon.
“I’m kind of new here,” he said. “Moved a couple weeks ago.”
Ackland explained that his family had moved to the county after his father was hired as superintendent of Centre schools.
The fireworks he wants to buy this year will depend on his budget, Ackland said.
“I would say 200-gram cakes are the smallest you can get,” he said. “I’m trying to go for smaller ones, because I’ve noticed that although they look small, they’re breaking a lot bigger.”
Ackland highlighted a ten-shot, purple-and-gold willow cake called “Wild Wild Willows” as one he was interested in picking up.
The Shultses are contracted by Wholesale Fireworks, a large chain with locations in Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and West Virginia.
“It started when my kids were in school as fundraisers for different things they were involved in,” Allison Shults said.
Last July was rainy, Shults recalled; storms knocked over their tent when they first tried to set it up.
“Luckily, we weren’t stocked,” she said.
The Fourth also fell on a Thursday in 2024, which meant sales were down.
This year, with the Fourth on a Friday and sunny weather for most of the week, Shults is expecting better business.
“I can handle the wind blowing stuff off the tables,” she said. “As long as it’s not raining.”
Both Shults and her husband work in the Marion school system.
Shults said she planned to use this year’s proceeds to buy supplies for her second and third grade special-ed classrooms.