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Americans celebrate freedom with fireworks, ice cream and travel
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Backyard fireworks enthusiasts know the boom is followed by the crackle and sparks of spectacular colors.
The Fourth of July weekend is upon us, and customers at Youngstown-based Phantom Fireworks are ready.
“It doesn’t matter what ethnic background – everyone loves fireworks,” said Bruce Zoldan, president and chief executive officer of Phantom.
Zoldan’s father got the owner of the nation’s largest firework retailer interested in pyrotechnics.
“I started out of my car selling fireworks,” Zoldan said.
Now, Phantom has 80 showrooms and more than 1,000 seasonal stands in the U.S.
“It was a sideline business,” Zoldan said. “I never expected it to be a lifetime career.”
On Thursday, Zoldan watched as customers at his North Lima flagship location came out with carts overflowing with Phantom Fireworks.
“It’s a better deal to come out here,” said C.J. Yothers, 23, of Industry, Pa. “You get more for the same amount of money.”
Consumer-class fireworks, including bottle rockets and Roman candles, can be purchased in Ohio by anyone 18 or older, but they cannot be used in the state. Instead, they must be taken over the state’s borders within 48 hours of purchase.
An amendment added to last year’s biennial budget bill now permits consumers to buy fireworks without signing a purchaser’s form identifying themselves and acknowledging state law prohibitions against using fireworks. Hence, whether the state law is actually followed is easily answered by looking skyward any night in early July.
Yothers drove to the North Lima Phantom location with his brother, Brandon Yothers, 22. The two planned to spend $1,000 to put a show on for their neighborhood.
“It’s kind of turning into a block party nowadays,” Brandon said. “We will probably have about 500 shells.”
Zoldan is optimistic that Phantom will see an increase over last year’s sales, when the Fourth fell on a Saturday.
“Saturday is a great day, but Monday might even be a better day,” he said. “It gives Americans a longer weekend.”
A longer weekend means more time to celebrate the land of the free and the home of the brave with fireworks, hot dogs and ice cream.
“Handel’s is all-American,” said Lenny Fisher, owner of Youngstown’s beloved Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream & Yogurt.
Handel’s already has had a great start to the summer season. June 2016 sales were up 15 percent over June 2015.
Sunday is expected to be another busy day for the ice-cream franchise with locations throughout the Mahoning Valley and elsewhere.
Fisher says the business dies down on the Fourth when customers head to their barbecues about 4 p.m.
Travel is another way Americans celebrate their independence.
AAA East Central projects this Fourth of July will have the highest travel volume on record with about 43 million Americans expected to hit the road between June 30 and July 4.
U.S. drivers have saved about $20 billion on gasoline so far this year compared with the same period in 2015.
“More people than ever are planning to travel this Fourth of July weekend,” Jim Lehman, president of AAA East Central, said in a statement. “Car travel proves to be the most-popular mode of transportation as Americans take advantage of low gas prices.”