Finding Fireworks for the Fourth

I've talked about favorite fireworks in posts from last year and 2003 (I seemed to skip any such mention in 2004, when I only talked about the loss of fireworks), so to start off my discussion of fireworks this year, I would like to talk about favorite firework retailers instead. Since I sometimes get St. Louis/St. Charles residents reading my blog, I encourage you to consider patronizing these fireworks tents as you shop for the fourth of July (note: in this area, fireworks are sold in tents, save for a few permanent retailers that appear outside of St. Charles county).

• Fireworks City on Fifth St. (between QuikTrip and the abandoned Philips 66, a bit beyond several other Fireworks City tents that are closer to I-70). I don't like Fireworks City in general but I make an exception for this particular, smaller Fireworks City tent. The owner or manager of it is a genuinely nice guy who remembers me, and many of his customers from year to year. That he remembers me is surprising: they have not been the cheapest or largest tent in the past, so I haven't always bought that much from him, but that doesn't seem to matter. They have some neat fireworks — such as Pop Goes the Fountain, Nuclear Meltdown and the Reloadable Fountain — that are hard to find elsewhere, so I do buy those kinds of things there. Notably, this tent was cheaper than other tents on some items that I had looked at over the past week, which made it even better this year. Even before I realized that, I had resolved to purchase more from him this year just because he deserves the business. The fact that he has unique stuff helps in that regard.
• Bubba Fireworks (next to Citgo on the service road of I-70 in Cave Springs, beyond DAD'S and President's fireworks tents). This is a new tent with a very helpful, enthusiastic owner. Part of the key to finding good, new fireworks is helpful workers at the tent (since it is not feasible to try everything), and the lady who owns this particular tent seemed to genuinely love the fireworks she recommended. While she favored larger ones, they weren't excessive, and the tent featured some nice, smaller fireworks.
• Mr. Whalen's Fireworks (Mid Rivers Mall Drive, beyond the community college, noticeable by all the military branches' flags flying on the tent) was reasonably helpful at pointing out fireworks and pushed finding better values over bigger price tags. Notably they were one of only two tents that had Just Another Stinkin' Fountain (JASF), and they had it for only $7.00, a real bargain.
• TNT (Rte. 94 in the Walgreen's parking lot across the street from St. John's UCC) offered a better selection than the other TNT tent I've been to this year. The gentleman who was managing that tent was very good at recommending fireworks that were reasonably safe in subdivisions and was very into pointing out fireworks that had vivid, unique colors.

There are lots of other good ones, but consider checking these ones out this year.