South Lyon — Jack McClellan prepares for the Fourth of July the same way every year by visiting the Michigan Fireworks Company to stock up for a colorful holiday display of bangs, bursts and booms up north.
But this year, he was being choosier than usual as he filled his cart with crackling dragons and Saturn missile batteries: “We’ve gotta be extra special this year.”
McClellan, 74, of Livonia is among consumers and professional display operators who are powering a fireworks spending spree for the nation’s 250th birthday. The industry expects revenue to hit at least a record $3 billion, up from $2.95 billion last year. Consumer sales are projected to rise from $2.3 billion in 2025 to about $2.5 billion.
“This will be a blockbuster year for the firework industry,” said Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. “Everything is going to be bigger than ever before. Many cities are planning their largest firework display ever to commemorate this once-in-a-generation celebration, and the same with consumer fireworks. I anticipate a lot of first-time backyard firework users because it is America’s 250.”
Tariff impacts fizzle
Last year, fireworks industry officials were concerned that new tariffs, which briefly hit 145% last year, would increase costs and limit supply ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
However, Heckman says tariffs have had a limited impact on this year’s fireworks season. Many companies avoided the levies imposed by the Trump administration by stocking up before they hit or delaying shipments until rates fell after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned some of the tariffs in February.
“Most of the industry pivoted,” Heckman said. “They were able to stop their orders so that they didn’t come in at that higher rate and then bring the product in when the tariff rate went down.”
Many also ordered in advance, like Eric and Jessica Konopka, who own the Michigan Fireworks Co. Lucky for them, fireworks have a long shelf life, so they ordered inventory in August 2025 for this year and selected about 25% more explosives than usual despite finding that 60 items from China were unavailable.
China produces 99% of consumer fireworks and 90% of professional display fireworks, according to the APA.
“The Chinese production of fireworks has decreased to the United States in the last two years,” said Eric Konopka. “We’re losing out on production, and we have to order in August of the year before for our fireworks this year, the following year.”
Konopka said that by ordering in advance, the store avoided having to increase prices.
“We got inventory coming in and stocked up,” Eric Konopka said. “We’re 100% fully stocked, and I know that’s good because some wholesalers are out of stuff. My one wholesaler is already out of artillery shells, so what we have in stock is it.”
The retailer will stay open until 10 p.m. on the Fourth because 65% of its yearly sales are done on Independence Day.
“They are knocking on that door ’til 10 p.m. at night to get fireworks. Maybe they didn’t buy some, and they saw their neighbors, or daughters and sons, wanted to get some sparklers or tanks,” Konopka said.
Heckman said she expects more patriotic-themed products and packaging this year because manufacturers have been preparing for the semiquincentennial celebration.
“You’ve got everything from the novelty devices, those little snaps that children love to throw on the driveway, to wire sparklers to your larger 500-gram repeater cakes, which are basically a display in a box,” Heckman said.
But even with new glitz on the shelves, consumers like McClellan are still keeping a budget in mind as they shop. He said fireworks are “real expensive these days.” He didn’t plan to spend more than $500.
“When I was a kid they were so inexpensive. Some of these kegs here are like $100, some are $250,” McClellan said. “I do the show. I’ve been doing it for 56 years at a cottage in northern Michigan.”
Whitmore Lake resident Daniel Gyde, 60, has been the Independence Day host for his family for the last half-century too. He’s going to perform a traditional red, white and blue fireworks show for the country’s 250th year celebration.
“I can remember the bicentennial in 1976. I was 11 years old, and that was like the best time. I remember the bicentennial, that was sweet,” he said. “The Vietnam War was over. I was young, but you could tell Americans were happy.”
He expected to spend upwards of $600 on 48 shells and more display items at Michigan Fireworks Company.
“I see that the prices have gone up this year, but it doesn’t matter. They got some big artillery shells that are $149.99 each, and last year, I could get them for $110, $115 … so another $85 over there, another $100 over here. It’s gone up,” Gyde said. “We’re picking out a bit of smaller stuff this year. I would’ve normally gotten a bigger selection of the bigger ones.”
Demand explodes for professional operators
The Parade Company also saw a sharp increase in costs last year, with the Ford Fireworks rising between 25% and 30% in 2025, said Tony Michaels, president and CEO. This year, costs rose at a much slower pace, about 5% to 10%.
But the Parade Company won’t be pulling back. Instead, the Ford Fireworks will be “bigger and better,” Michaels said. While the show is not specifically designed as a semiquincentennial celebration, he said it will include additional patriotic elements and American-themed segments.
“We want to put on the biggest, best show in America, and I don’t believe in going backwards,” he said.
Michaels credited fireworks provider Zambelli’s inventory planning for avoiding supply issues, adding that pricing was negotiated early, keeping costs within budget.
While tariffs and other economic factors contributed to higher costs, Michaels said he expects prices to eventually stabilize and come down. Beyond fireworks, cost increases have impacted other parts of the show, including barges, helicopters, labor and logistics, he said.
“Everybody got caught a little off guard in the last year or so with these types of things, but we were right there, man,” he said. “We made it happen.”
Since the bicentennial, fireworks have been upgraded from manual devices with limited effects and colors to sophisticated systems drones, electronic firing systems, music and more. Commercial operators say demand is especially robust this year.
AMS Displays, which puts on pyromusicals for municipalities, lake associations and weddings, had to turn down 46 bookings for 2026.
“Some shows we have this year booked us two years ago,” owner Iolaus Lee said. “A lot of people thought they were early by trying to book in January. Some are going to be without a show, some are just moving to the next day … or the following weekend.”
Some of the influx in bookings comes from competitors, Lee said, who have either priced previous customers out due to tariffs and supply constraints and some from demand with Independence Day falling on a Saturday this year.
“Those same shows that were maybe $10,000, $15,000 shows have to either jump up to $20,000 to $30,000 shows just to get them on the board because of demand or, two, simply because of what the prices have now gone up to,” Lee said.
On the Fourth of July, AMS Displays will perform 11 shows, and the company has 32 new customers this year. The shows are about 17 minutes long and cost from $5,000 to $70,000. Lee says customers are doubling their budgets this year for the “biggest and best displays.”
“We have a show from last year that went from a budget of $32,000 to $65,000, which means I need more equipment and crew out to that show, so I either have to take people from another show and put them there or I have to find more people to help with the show and that’s the problem with everybody this year: no one has available crews (because) we’re taking on the biggest year,” Lee said.
Konopka said he’s seeing a similar trend at his store, where sales rose 15% since last year.
“I think people are planning much bigger events and get-togethers and shows, which in turn is pushing through fireworks quite a bit,” he said. “All of our red, white and blue items are selling like crazy.”
Lee of AMS Displays said he expects this year’s celebrations to be louder, longer and more lavish.
“I have a lot of people that call that just want to know how to do backyard stuff,” he said. “So the level of fireworks that people are about to hear and see is probably going to be the most insane thing they’ve ever seen in their life.”
mjohnson@detroitnews.com
cwilliams@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Fireworks sales expected for America’s 250th to be a boom
Reporting by Myesha Johnson and Candice Williams, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Myesha Johnson and Candice Williams, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
