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Spark-eez makes its debut in time for the Fourth of July
CANFIELD
In the weeks between the winter’s last snow and the Fourth of July, a need bubbles in the chests of a small group of people for whom purchasing massive quantities of explosives is as fundamental an annual ritual as carving a turkey at Thanksgiving.
This group of people, capable of citing the firework laws of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia by heart, provide the invaluable service of providing free – and often illegal – firework shows on the day Americans celebrate our nation’s birth, and continue their service into the next day when news consumers read stories of their mishaps.
For the rest of the population, city-leveling stockpiles of munitions are unnecessary for a satisfactory celebration. For them, the noble and reliable sparkler is enough, and they now have a more convenient and arguably safer version of the sparkler available to them thanks to a local man’s inspiration to innovate.
Warren McClurg’s idea for a strike-to-light sparkler – dubbed Spark-eez – came when he watched his daughter attempt to use a lighter to ignite a traditional sparkler without burning herself.
Thinking the technology antiquated and seeing an opportunity for innovation, McClurg fell back on his background in chemistry and began a near decadelong project to bring the world the strike-to-light sparkler.
Today, McClurg holds the patent for the sparklers, and – along with business partner Mike Naffa, owner of Inner Circle Pizza in Canfield – is manufacturing sparklers on American soil, in Canfield.
Spark-eez work similar to a match: The user strikes the sparkler against an ignition pad included in the package and it lights.
“It eliminates the second heat sources and keeps lighters out of the hands of children,” McClurg said. “Besides, who has a lighter anymore? No one smokes. It’s much more convenient.”
McClurg estimates that 40 percent of his business will be purchases related to celebrating the Fourth of July. The rest he anticipates will be for use in any number of “celebrations of life.”
“We expect purchases for birthdays, weddings, conceivably any celebration,” McClurg said. “The celebration of the Indian holiday of Diwali often incorporates sparklers, so we hope to see interest from the Indian community here in the states.”
Spark-eez will retail for $3.95 for a pack of eight sparklers. They’ve been available for purchase online at www.spark-eeze.com for a little more than a month, and McClurg has no immediate plans to move his operation off the internet.
“You’ve got to set yourself up where the market is, but the real challenge is how do you rise above all the noise?” McClurg said. “And there’s a lot of noise in our market.”
For locals looking to pick up a pack in time for the holiday, however, the company does offer three-day shipping, and Spark-eez can be bought – with cash – at Inner Circle Canfield.