Talk About Money Going Up in Smoke!

This weekend we headed down to Portland to visit some friends.  We got to see our good friends new baby boy and also got to spend time with another very good friend of mine.  On the way down to Portland from Seattle, we noticed a HUGE fireworks stand off one side of the freeway.  This stand is just inside the Washington border near Portland.  We made a note of which exit we’d need to take on the way back so that we could check it out.

On the way home today, we stopped at the stands.  This wasn’t an indian reservation, but rather, just a HUGE operation that sold legal fireworks.  They had free popsicles for the kids, two bouncy houses that the kids could jump in, food etc.  You would have thought you were at a fair.  But this was no fair.  This place existed for one purpose: To sell a TON of fireworks.  I’ve really never seen this many fireworks under one tent.  I have to admit I was impressed.

What amazed me most was the amount of money people were spending on fireworks.  These aren’t a bunch of people pulling up in their Lexus/Mercedes automobiles.  You could just tell most of these people were taking the majority of their fireworks back to their trailers.  Okay, that’s a little harsh.  I do think it’s safe to say that there were many paychecks being used to cover the totals.  Lucky for all these people, the stand was gracious enough to accept credit cards.  If I had to guess, I’d say that many of the people were spending between $200 and $400 on fireworks.  They had big “sets” of fireworks going for $399, but most people were just piling their shopping carts, (yes they had shopping carts) full of individual items.

The fact that I was there may lead some of you to start thinking “hypocrite”.  But I spent a total of $39, which is more than I’ve ever spent before.  The good news is that they were at a significant discount over regular stands.  We’ll set them off with all of our neighbors in our cul-de-sac on the 4th of July.  With everyone contributing a little bit, it turns out to be a great time.  (with food, drinks etc).  Need I say that I used cash?  :)