Fireworks ban busts sales for local vendors
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Just as Thanksgiving is a boom to turkey sales and Mother’s Day is to the sale of flowers, cards and candy sales, the 4th of July is a time when fireworks vendors make their money.
But this year, fireworks vendors in Watford City are concerned that the ban on shooting off fireworks, due to drought conditions, is going to be a big blow to their business.
On June 28, the day before the sale of fireworks began legal, the McKenzie County commissioners issued a fire emergency and burn ban order on the use of fireworks that runs from June 29 to July 6.
“There is no doubt that the ban of shooting off fireworks is going to hurt our business,” states Nicole Ninneman of Impact Fireworks. “We knew that it would. But we’ll carry on as usual.”
On Thursday afternoon, the first day that fireworks could legally be sold in Watford City, Ninneman’s stand was completely void of customers. In normal years, children of all ages would have been oohing and aawing over the massive selection of firecrackers, bottle rockets, aerial displays and other assorted things that go boom and light up the skies.
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