It\u2019s a tradition that goes along with cookouts and baseball games; it just wouldn\u2019t be the Fourth of July without fireworks.<\/p>\n
And with the United States\u2019 250th anniversary celebration \u2014 the semiquincentennial \u2014 companies specializing in pyrotechnics are seeing sky-high sales.<\/p>\n
Brian Bush, a regional manager for Phantom Fireworks, said sales are projected to easily surpass the peak numbers it saw during the 2020 pandemic when people bought their own fireworks as something to do when other activities were canceled. He said there has been early-season foot traffic in stores that include Lehigh Valley locations in Whitehall and Williams townships.<\/p>\n
What are customers looking for? He said interest is focused on 500-gram repeaters, which creates a full aerial show with a single ignition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely saw a real up-tick at all sales during [the pandemic],\u201d Bush said, \u201cand we\u2019ve had a lot of customers that have stayed on with us for many years from there. There\u2019s a feeling we\u2019ve been getting from a lot of them coming in that this is a very similar kind of jolt for fireworks sales at that point. This year, we were really prepared for it because everyone\u2019s been looking at the 250th.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, said it should be a record season, as sales haven\u2019t slowed down since the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe this Fourth of July will be a blockbuster year for the fireworks industry,\u201d she said. \u201cIt will be a challenge to meet that same demand in future years because it is the 250th anniversary. It only comes around once in a generation anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that public displays of fireworks will be larger, too, with some municipalities that had curtailed them in recent years bridging them back for the 250th.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe signature events across the country are all going to be significantly larger than any display they\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pyrotechnics association said revenue from consumer fireworks was $2.3 billion in 2025 and has been steadily rising over the past 25 years. It jumped noticeably during the pandemic, going from $1 billion in 2019 to $2.2 billion in 2021.<\/p>\n
Last year, consumers used about 300 million pounds of fireworks.<\/p>\n
Another factor that could boost sales \u2014 July 4 is on a Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a Saturday Fourth, which are typically the stronger years as well,\u201d Bush said. \u201cSo that on top of everything else is going to help a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heckman said the industry has been trying to keep prices down, despite the fact that about 99% of consumer fireworks and 75% of display fireworks are imported and subject to tariffs. Businesses, she said, have mostly absorbed the costs rather than passing them on to the consumer.<\/p>\n
Bush said Phantom increased its inventory early and then waited until the situation was clearer before increasing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne good thing is we got a lot of stuff really early as well,\u201d Bush said. \u201cWe kind of scaled it back for a little while, and then once the tariff situation improved, we were able to up our shipping back up to those levels. So we kind of were able to hit it on both ends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Public displays<\/p>\n
Big displays are, of course, planned nationwide. Washington is attempting to set a world record, while Macy\u2019s Fourth of July Spectacular in New York is expected to be twice its traditional size.<\/p>\n
Heckman said some of the other bigger displays are planned for San Francisco; Nashville, Tennessee; Addison, Texas; and Melba, Idaho.<\/p>\n
In the Lehigh Valley, Coca-Cola Park will have displays July 3-4, though the IronPigs will be on the road that weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiberty Ignited: A Lehigh Valley Salute to America at 250\u201d is scheduled for July 3 and will feature the region\u2019s largest drone and fireworks display in partnership with Discover Lehigh Valley, Lehigh County and America250PA.<\/p>\n
The event will showcase hundreds of drones, illuminated and synced to music, producing displays, visuals and patterns across the night sky. The drone performance will be followed by the largest fireworks display in Coca-Cola Park\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
The IronPigs said it would be \u201cmore than six times the size\u201d of a normal postgame fireworks show.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are excited to host the Lehigh Valley\u2019s pinnacle event celebrating our country\u2019s 250th anniversary in such grand style,\u201d said Kurt Landes, IronPigs president and general manager. \u201cDesigned to be the region\u2019s apex 250th birthday event, it\u2019s an honor to be opening Coca-Cola Park to the community for such a meaningful, memorable and patriotic celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis once-in-a-lifetime occasion will not only bring the area\u2019s largest drone and largest fireworks display ever, but also impactful ceremonies recognizing our veterans, active military and first responders while also honoring our entire community\u2019s legacy and history.\u201d<\/p>\n
On July 4, Coca-Cola Park will host the \u201cGreat American Blast\u201d with food and family events.<\/p>\n
Other displays have been included in other 250th anniversary celebrations in the Valley:<\/p>\n
\u2022 July 3: Valley Preferred Cycling Center, Upper Macungie Township.<\/p>\n
\u2022 July 4: Cedar Beach, Allentown.<\/p>\n
\u2022 July 4-5: Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, South Whitehall Township.<\/p>\n
\u2022 July 5: Bangor Memorial Park.<\/p>\n
\u2022 July 11: Hopewell Park, Upper Saucon Township.<\/p>\n
\u2022 July 11: Easton Heritage Day.<\/p>\n
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.<\/p>\n
Celebrating safely<\/p>\n
For those who want to have their own backyard or neighborhood show, the pyrotechnics association has some safety tips:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Always have a sober adult in charge and never let children handle fireworks.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Only buy fireworks from a reputable, licensed dealer.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Read and follow the directions on the label.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Never carry fireworks in your pocket and never shoot them from a metal or glass container.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Keep spectators at a safe distance.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Wear safety glasses when lighting them.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Don\u2019t aim or throw fireworks at another person.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Have a bucket of water or a working garden hose nearby.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Light one firework at a time and never try to relight one that burns out.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Only use them outdoors and away from buildings. Light them on a flat, fireproof surface with no debris.<\/p>\n
\u2022 When finished, allow used fireworks \u2014 like sparklers and bottle rockets, as well as pyrotechnics that didn\u2019t go off \u2014 to stand for at least 20 minutes. After that, submerge them in water overnight before throwing them out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a tradition that goes along with cookouts and baseball games; it just wouldn\u2019t be the Fourth of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,4000,60,157,182,139,432],"class_list":["post-218209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-america-250","tag-business","tag-lehigh-valley","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}