VIDEO: Fireworks Sales Boom Despite Hot Temperatures

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)-Independence Day is the holiday commemorating the adoption of the declaration of independence.

People celebrate the holiday with food, barbecues, and of course, fire works.

Before we hear and see fireworks flying in the air, they first fly off the shelves.
“I mean we got men and women that fought for our freedom so we can get out and make some noise for them,” said Dale Stafford, customer who buys fireworks every year.

“We got some some bombs because every year you’ve got to have smoke bombs, their colorful, and stink too but that’s Ok,” said Jonathon Hunley, Columbus resident.

“Umm bottle rockets, that’s my favorite,” said Stafford.

For Stafford, lighting up the sky on the Fourth of July has become a family tradition.

“Very year for Christmas my dad would put some in my stockings and we’d shoot them every year,” he said.

And this year will be no different.

“My oldest daughter expects them every year so we try to do it every year, and I’ve been doing it since I was little, and I try to keep it going,” said Stafford.

“I’m going to try to beat out the competition because our neighbors, they all shoot them off. We usually see theirs and we’ll try to copy them and get louder, brighter,” said Hunley.

While many people are piling into stores trying to get their hands on their favorite fireworks, and fill up their baskets.

Jackie Gosa is busy filling up her store shelves to handle the big surplus of customers.

“Oh it takes us two or three weeks to stock and get everything. We order stuff months ahead of time so it can be here on time,” said Jackie Gosa, store manager for Orbit Fireworks on Highway 45.

Gosa said  hundreds of customers have already been through her store this weekend to spend money on fireworks.

“They like our artillery shells that’s our most popular thing we have, and our assortment packs, they’re all half priced,” she said.

She said  the Fourth of July weekend is one the store’s biggest revenue generator, and even with the hot temperatures outside, it still hasn’t stopped customers from coming looking to but fireworks,

“It’s been busy, it’s been really hot so the people are waiting to waiting until the evening to come in, and they do coming, so I’ve been doing pretty good,” said Gosa. “They’re coming in at a steady pace, and I’m really happy, I hope they keep coming in.”