I come from a country (South Africa) where fireworks were never a big cultural "thing". The 5th of November (Guy Fawkes Night) was celebrated as a sort of hangover from colonial days, but not in a big way. Dad would buy a small box of mixed fireworks, and us kids would wave sparklers enthusiastically while Roman Candles and small rockets lit up the sky over the garden - but it wasn't that big a deal to us. It was almost exclusively a family affair, with few or no public displays of fireworks. We didn't spend the rest of the year breathlessly waiting for the next round of bangs, booms and zooms.
Thus, when I came to this country, I was taken aback by the enthusiasm shown by almost everyone, adults and kids alike, at the prospect of converting large sums of money into smoke and (particularly) noise. I can do that on a shooting range and get some useful practice out of it, but just blowing paper, cardboard and powder into the sky? It simply doesn't do much for me. Last weekend, when the town we live in held its annual July 4th fireworks display a little early, I didn't even bother to go out and look. I did some writing at my desk, comforted the cats (who were being driven frantic by the excessive noise) and endured as patiently as possible until it was over. I know some (a lot?) of my friends here can't figure that out. To them, this is a highlight of the civic year, and the more noise we make, the better. Well, I'm glad they enjoy it.
Something I could never figure out was the seemingly immense number of small fireworks stalls and outlets along the sides of local roads. Within a couple of miles radius of my home there are at least five, all operating seasonally for major celebrations like July 4th. A couple of weeks before the day they'll open their doors, and close them again a week afterwards, reverting to their usual status of derelict old shipping containers and garden sheds, locked up until next time. I wondered how on earth their owners could make a living off such haphazard businesses . . . until I read Mr. B's explanation.
One of the guys that hangs around the airport works for an FBO….and his side job is managing at a Fireworks Outlet.
He was telling us that their market research tells them that the average customer spends nearly 820 dollars for the Independence Day holiday….And their average customer is on welfare or other government assistance, has 4 children, and gets some form of housing subsidy. They nearly all live below the poverty line.
Yet, oddly, they have enough money for fireworks.
He also said that the year they gave out Covid subsidy checks was the best year ever for the business.
There's more at the link.
The average customer spends $820 for Independence Day celebrations? I don't know if that's for food and drinks as well as fireworks, but even so, ye gods and little fishes! Those fireworks are over and above the bigger displays put on by almost all cities, towns and villages all over the country. Around this time of year, you could fly over rural northern Texas and think you were having a flashback to World War II, with every town in sight trying to shoot down everything passing overhead!
I'm sorry. I must be holiday-spirit-deficient in some way, because the thought of that much money being blown sky-high at this time of year - when many, many people are finding it so hard to make ends meet - is just . . . weird.
Peter