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CHEYENNE — It's like a small shopping center with explosive names. As you pull off Interstate 25, just across the Colorado-Wyoming state line from Weld County, you'll see the buildings: Phantom Fireworks; Fireworks Outlet, and the odd-named “Pyro City.”
This is the major outlet area for fireworks in Wyoming, and on one recent day, the vast majority of the cars parked outside the buildings had Colorado license plates. They sell only legal fireworks here. Legal in Wyoming, that is.
The largest store is Fireworks Outlet, featuring the Black Cat brand of firecrackers and fireworks. Its manager, Ron Zimmerman, said the Colorado customers are important: “We have a section where only Colorado fireworks are sold,” he said.
In Colorado, as in Greeley, only ground fireworks are allowed. Anything that explodes or leaves the ground is illegal.
But that doesn't mean Coloradans aren't buying the Wyoming fireworks.
On Wednesday, Wayne Hyde and his son loaded a pile of Wyoming fireworks into their car for the trip back to Denver. He said he's been coming to the Wyoming outlets for eight years. “But I don't buy the illegal stuff,” Hyde quickly said. “We only get the sparkling stuff and the bottle rockets.”
Bottle rockets are illegal in Colorado.
The fireworks shopping center is very busy this week.
“This is our Christmas,” Zimmerman said. “We get Christmas in the middle of the year, and get a chance to make everybody's Fourth very happy.”
And although most of the license plates in the lot are from Colorado, the Colorado section of the store was not being shopped very much.
In some of the “Wyoming” areas, you can find:
» Firecrackers labeled “500 grams of powder: the largest legal load available.”
» “Boom” artillery shells.
» Exploding fireworks labeled “Professional Pyro.”
Almost every package has this written on the outside: “WARNING: Shoots flaming balls”
The largest package is a 6-foot-tall box of fireworks labeled “The Godfather,” which costs $588.88. Promotions on the box state the fireworks are “loud and nasty.”
Black Cat Fireworks is the world's largest distributor of fireworks, Zimmerman said, and they specialize in “low prices and safety.”
At the checkout counters, there are coloring books with fireworks safety tips for kids and a safety list from the National Council on Fireworks Safety for adults. Zimmerman said they also provide a place to shoot off the Wyoming fireworks safely, about a mile from their stores.
Although no Colorado State Patrol cars were seen in the area Wednesday, across the state line in Colorado, there have been incidents in which CSP troopers stopped cars and confiscated their illegal fireworks.
State patrol Capt. Paul Matzke said troopers must have reasonable cause to stop cars — such as speeding, unsafe driving or mechanical violations. If a trooper stops a car for another violation and sees illegal fireworks in plain sight in the car, he or she can confiscate them.
The ticket for illegal fireworks is a misdemeanor, and the person who is ticketed will have to appear in court. The owner also will lose the fireworks. “We submerge them in a tub of water,” Matzke said.
This is the major outlet area for fireworks in Wyoming, and on one recent day, the vast majority of the cars parked outside the buildings had Colorado license plates. They sell only legal fireworks here. Legal in Wyoming, that is.
The largest store is Fireworks Outlet, featuring the Black Cat brand of firecrackers and fireworks. Its manager, Ron Zimmerman, said the Colorado customers are important: “We have a section where only Colorado fireworks are sold,” he said.
In Colorado, as in Greeley, only ground fireworks are allowed. Anything that explodes or leaves the ground is illegal.
But that doesn't mean Coloradans aren't buying the Wyoming fireworks.
On Wednesday, Wayne Hyde and his son loaded a pile of Wyoming fireworks into their car for the trip back to Denver. He said he's been coming to the Wyoming outlets for eight years. “But I don't buy the illegal stuff,” Hyde quickly said. “We only get the sparkling stuff and the bottle rockets.”
Bottle rockets are illegal in Colorado.
The fireworks shopping center is very busy this week.
“This is our Christmas,” Zimmerman said. “We get Christmas in the middle of the year, and get a chance to make everybody's Fourth very happy.”
And although most of the license plates in the lot are from Colorado, the Colorado section of the store was not being shopped very much.
In some of the “Wyoming” areas, you can find:
» Firecrackers labeled “500 grams of powder: the largest legal load available.”
» “Boom” artillery shells.
» Exploding fireworks labeled “Professional Pyro.”
Almost every package has this written on the outside: “WARNING: Shoots flaming balls”
The largest package is a 6-foot-tall box of fireworks labeled “The Godfather,” which costs $588.88. Promotions on the box state the fireworks are “loud and nasty.”
Black Cat Fireworks is the world's largest distributor of fireworks, Zimmerman said, and they specialize in “low prices and safety.”
At the checkout counters, there are coloring books with fireworks safety tips for kids and a safety list from the National Council on Fireworks Safety for adults. Zimmerman said they also provide a place to shoot off the Wyoming fireworks safely, about a mile from their stores.
Although no Colorado State Patrol cars were seen in the area Wednesday, across the state line in Colorado, there have been incidents in which CSP troopers stopped cars and confiscated their illegal fireworks.
State patrol Capt. Paul Matzke said troopers must have reasonable cause to stop cars — such as speeding, unsafe driving or mechanical violations. If a trooper stops a car for another violation and sees illegal fireworks in plain sight in the car, he or she can confiscate them.
The ticket for illegal fireworks is a misdemeanor, and the person who is ticketed will have to appear in court. The owner also will lose the fireworks. “We submerge them in a tub of water,” Matzke said.
