Oregon fireworks

Oregon is a safe and sane state, basically just allowing fountains and spinners like ground flowers. So no cakes, shells, rockets, firecrackers, or any other good stuff. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun! Last year I got some little stuff to play with in OR and actually had a lot of fun. I told one person and ten showed up, so this year I’m doing it again, with a lot more stuff, but still just a fun little joke show to amuse myself before I go to Washington when I can legally use aerials for my real show. I wanted to look around at all the options in Portland, and hopefully talk fireworks with somebody who knew what they were talking about, which can be difficult. [As usual, click pictures twice for full resolution.]

First up I went to Safeway (left), because I bought a few fountains there two years ago. They just have a little TNT display near the entrance, with mostly assortments, but a few two and four-packs of fountains, and a couple singles. I bought a fanned fountain called Iced Out and headed to my next stop.

There was a TNT stand out in the parking lot I intended to check out next, but they were closed for some reason, so I headed across the street to the Bi-Mart (below), where I got all my stuff last year. I didn’t get a very good picture, but they had a decent selection of small items, midsize fountains, and a few 200g and 500g fountains, plus the usual assortments. The larger items were mostly Shogun, then a lot of generic stuff. I stocked up on fun little $1-2 items like tiny fountains, tanks, and those little panda things, plus a few midsize fountains for some actual effects. Those little things added up faster than I realized, and set the tone of the day, spending more than I intended.

Next up was Fred Meyer (three pictures below), which has Phantom products. It was almost all assortments (plus a little stand that showed the wide variety of ways to package stupid little party poppers. Most of the single fountains were way too expensive, but I couldn’t leave without buying something! I ended up getting a 3-pack of cone fountains, each a single color with crackle. I also took a picture of some “Silver Salutes,” which if you read more closely say “crackling silver salute brand” and are just crackling ground flowers designed to make people think they are salutes. It was the first deceptive packaging of the day, but certainly not the last.

Next I cruised down 82nd, eagerly scanning parking lots for fireworks stands. The first was a large TNT stand (three pictures below). Inside were some teenagers from a youth group, who obviously didn’t know anything about fireworks. TNT and others have a great deal, as far as I can tell. The people run the stand as a fundraiser for their youth group or whatever, and TNT gets basically free labor to sell overpriced fireworks. Inside the prices were pretty ridiculous, so I only wanted to buy a single item (can’t leave without something!). One of the girls helpfully asked if there was anything I was looking for and I told her something with glitter. She tried to help, but didn’t know what anything did and pointed out one that was “pretty.” The price tag signs had performance descriptions on them and it didn’t have glitter, but I didn’t see anything else that did, so I bought it to humor her and continued down the road.

The next stop was another TNT tent (two pictures below), mainly I had to go to the bathroom in the store next to it, but I went in the stand anyway to see if there was anything different in this one. They had some amusingly deceptive fountains designed to look like cakes and rockets, and I ended up buying an overpriced ten dollar fountain called Blue Planet because I would feel bad not buying anything (and hey, it’s still fireworks).

Next was a tent that I was happy to see had no brand name stuck all over the place. Inside, I realized this was the place I wish I found before all the others (five pictures below). They were run by a local fireworks company rather than TNT, Phantom, etc, and had great stuff mainly from Brothers and Black Cat, as well as smaller brands and generics. I had to get a few more tiny fountains because I find them fun and they are so cheap, plus a Christmas tree shaped fountain, a Rising Flag novelty that will go well with my Rising Pandas, two fountains that said they are all glitter (I finally got my glitter, I love this stand!), and a Keg Party because they look so cool in the videos.

There were a number of other Black Cat fountains I was interested in, as well as a couple Brothers ones I really wanted like Krazy Klock and Fancy Flower, but I restrained myself from spending any more. I talked briefly to the woman working there, who told me who owned the place and of course agreed with me that they have the best selection of quality stuff around, I told her I was sorry I stopped at the TNT places first. We talked a little about people asking for aerials and how safe and sane stands manage to survive in Portland despite the WA border (with aerials!) being so close by. The one kind of deceptively packaged item they had was the Brothers Jumboshell Fountain (gold item in picture 15), but if you fall for that one you deserve it, and it actually looks pretty good from the video.

On the way out I did some quick math and realized I had spent too much already, and probably wouldn’t find any other good stands anyway, so I headed home. I felt rather silly having spent $90 on fountains and little items for a show that is supposed to be a joke anyway, but damn if I didn’t have a little grin on my face as I carried my little stash into the apartment to arrange them for a picture…