By David Lazenby

davidl@cullmantimes.com

Following a dud year in which drought soured area fireworks sales, retailers are expecting sky-high business during this year’s Fourth of July holiday, a season when the fireworks business is at its hottest.

Although many businesses are being hurt by high gas prices, one woman in the firework business said she believes the cost of fuel may boost firework sales.

“I think this year with the economy the way it is, people are going to stay home more, so they’re probably going to put more money into fireworks,” said Brenda Barnette who each year operates Fireworks for Jesus, a stand at the corner of Alabama highways 157 and 69 which raises money for her church, Spirit Life.

Chad Alexander, a firework vendor with several stands throughout Cullman County, agreed.

“It looks like people are going to be staying home and shooting fireworks this year instead of taking vacations,” he said.

Another fireworks vendor, Brenda Roberts, who owns Crazy Qs Fireworks in Good Hope, said her hopes are not as high.

“I have been concerned about the economy,” said Roberts. However, on Wednesday she said sales seem to be brisker than usual.

One reason fireworks sellers have to be optimistic is the day on which the Fourth falls.

“When it’s in the middle of the week, you sell less fireworks, when it’s a long weekend, people tend to come out and do more,” Barnette said.

“It’s going to be a major boost,” Alexander said.

The biggest factor affecting fireworks sales this year is rain.

Dealers say a ban on fireworks last year reduced their sales by at least 50 percent.

“We did about a quarter of what we normally did,” said Alexander.

This time last year, Cullman County was one of 33 counties across the state in which fireworks sales were affected by a no-burn order issued by the Alabama Forestry Commission in response to unusually dry conditions.

“Last year was not a good year at all,” Barnette said. “Because of the drought, we were unable to sell anything that you could not control the direction it went.”

Barnette said the ban affected some of its most popular offerings, including Roman candles and bottle rockets.

We couldn’t shoot those last year, so we were limited to what we could sell,” she said.

Adding to this problem was confusion about what was legal. Alexander said, “Folks didn’t know what they could and couldn’t shoot.” As a result, Alexander said many decided not to shoot them at all last year.

While Barnette said the price she pays for firework has remained steady, Roberts and Alexander said they had to pay more for the Class C explosives this year.

“Fireworks took about a 30 to 40 percent jump this year and it looks like it might be about that much next year,” Alexander said.

As a result, he said he had to raise his prices slightly. “We really tried to keep our prices nearly the same as they were last year.”

The cause of the increase, he said is partly a result of increased gas prices. “Getting them to us is a good bit more costly,” he said.

However, Alexander said there are other factors driving up the cost of fireworks, including increased demand and decreased supply.

“Now they can sell fireworks in China. Used to they weren’t able to do that. They don’t just have to sell them to America now,” he said.

According to a recent Associated Press article, the fireworks industry in China, where the firework was invented, provides 98 percent of the overall need in the United States.

Alexander said a blast at a fireworks warehouse in February decreased the supply. “There just wasn’t as many fireworks available. A lot of your containers didn’t make it overseas.”

Barnette said several fireworks factories have had explosions in recent years.

“These things are like working in an ammunition plant,” said Barnette’s father, Jim Parker.

Barnette said the local fireworks business has been hurt by an increase in the number of businesses selling the explosives.

“There’s a firework stand on every corner,” Barnette said.