Tim Wilson with a look at growing up with fireworks.
I certainly did, when I was a kid fireworks were legal
in New Hampshire, and I took full advantage of it.
Then there were several bottle rocket fires, and the usual
mangling of the digits suffered by folks who should have
known not to mix gunpowder with beer, that later caused
the state legislature to enact laws governing such things.
For years it was illegal to possess anything more than a
simple sparkler or Morning Glory type of device.
It was during those years that my father and I got into
the fireworks business, and boy did we ever.
I used to carry a pencil and small notebook around to
jot down orders from folks who wanted pyrotechnics.
I quickly became an expert on Chinese fireworks.
We got most of it from shipments directly into the
ports of Boston, cheap and plentiful and of great quality.
Ground displays, firecrackers, aerial displays, cones, rockets,
and the beloved cakes were my bread and butter for years.
I certainly knew what the best deals were, to me a cheap
Colored Pearl or a Garden in Spring still blows the doors
off of most much larger and more expensive devices.
Cuckoos are outstanding, as are most of the Festival Balls.
And yes, I had my share of real M-80s…