Shock and Ahhhh!!!! is one of over two dozen fireworks stand clustered off of Anderson Road near Highway 12 outside of Rochester.
Joe Hartman looks over a fireworks package named "Black Dynamite" at his unnamed stand on the Chehalis Indian Reservation on Wednesday afternoon. After lighting it, the firework shoots off 150 timed streams.
Joe Hartman opens up the "Destroyer" firework at his unnamed stand on the Chehalis Indian Reservation on Wednesday afternoon. After lighting it, the firework shoots off 150 timed streams.
Joe Hartman opens up the "Destroyer" firework at his unnamed stand on the Chehalis Indian Reservation on Wednesday afternoon. After lighting it, the firework shoots off 150 timed streams.
Business is about to start booming at the Chehalis Indian Reservation’s largest group of firework stands dubbed Boom City.
The group of about 25 individual firework vendors is located on Anderson Road just off U.S. Highway 12 near Rochester. Another cluster of stands is located near the intersection of Moon Road and 188th Avenue Southwest.
The vendors started setting up shop on June 1 selling various fireworks, including some that can’t be purchased outside of the reservation.
“Things are kind of slow,” said Joe Hartman, of Grand Mound, who mans a yellow unnamed firework stand. “In the next week or so it’ll pick up pretty good.”
Hartman’s stand showcases fireworks with major thunder, such as the Destroyer 24, a single shot reloadable artillery shell.
“For each shell you get one boom,” he said, noting this particular item has 24 shells.
Another hot item, Hartman said, is Black Dynamite, a 150-shot fan cake featuring 500 gram shells.
“It brightens up the sky,” Hartman said. “It’s a finale type firework.”
Hartman said in the eight years he’s been selling fireworks, he’s seen customers spend up to $4,000. Usually, he said, the big spenders come from places that have banned fireworks.
“Fireworks should be for everyone. It’s to celebrate our independence,” he said. “It’s no worse than having a gun.”
Hartman also has One Bad Mother, Crazy Excited on Steroids and the more popular family packs, artilleries, cakes and bottle rockets.
Another vendor, Cal Bray, of Centralia, runs a stand called Shock & Ahhhhh!!!
Bray’s stand features items such as Oktoberfest and Ghost Hunter.
“They look like lit up parachutes or jellyfish,” he said of the latter.
Bray also features Majestic Nights.
“If you want to put your neighbors to shame, you get this one,” the 20-plus-year industry veteran said.
Kalama resident Ben Mitchell was passing through the area and decided to stop at the stands.
“Just looking for things that explode,” he said, noting he only intended to spend $15. “I just get whatever is fun and cheap.”
George Sherwood, of Eugene, Ore., was traveling on business and decided to pick up smoke bombs and sparklers for his children.
“I just don’t want the kids to burn themselves or anything else. You really need to talk to this guy, he’s the real pyromaniac,” he said, motioning toward his friend Jeff Schmidt.
Schmidt said he planned to drop at least $100 on fireworks Wednesday.
“Anything that goes straight up,” he said.
Fireworks go on sale outside the reservation on June 28 at noon.
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Amy Nile: (360) 807-8235
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