LIVERMORE — With the majority of fourth of July firework shows canceled this year, Tim Bolduc, co-owner of Patriot Fireworks in Livermore, hopes to see a spike in sales. He is hopeful that the pandemic along with Independence Day falling on a Saturday this year, will cause more customers to flock to his shop.

“This year, it’s on a Saturday, and a lot of families really haven’t seen each other,” Bolduc said. “So a lot of people can enjoy fireworks and still keep far apart and still celebrate something as a family rather than an inside holiday where everyone is crammed in a kitchen or a living room.”

Bolduc had to finalize his summer order during the initial stages of the pandemic in March and make the tough decision of either purchasing more or less fireworks for the upcoming season. There is the possibility of doing more sales this year because of so many canceled events and people staying home more.

“So that’s why I think it will be up a good percentage for the fourth just because it’s an easy thing for families to do and keep a good distance apart,” Bolduc said. “It’s a good alternative to doing nothing.”

Bolduc also mentioned that there are many other factors to still consider besides the pandemic when projecting firework sales. The day of the week that the fourth of July falls on greatly impacts business, as does the weather. Past years’ holiday sales have been disappointing since Independence Day has fallen on weekdays.

Bolduc is also aware that sales could be worse than previous year’s due to people being out of work during the pandemic, but he ultimately chose to order 20% more product. While he anticipates fourth of July sales to be better than previous year’s, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility that business may decline for the rest of the summer.

“We could see a 15 to 20% bump for the fourth, but then it could drop off like a rock for the rest of the season just because people have gotten it out of the way; they’re done with it and graduations have gone by, Father’s Day has gone by. So people might just go back to not doing much,” Bolduc said.

Patriot Fireworks did see an increase in sales during the last week of May and the beginning of June as more people used fireworks as a way of celebrating school graduations.

“It seemed like people wanted to do something for their kids because they missed out on the traditional type of celebrations, so letting off a couple fireworks for them gave closure,” Bolduc said.

Since Patriot Fireworks is seasonal and opens on Memorial Day weekend, Bolduc hasn’t been able to gauge the effects that the pandemic has had on his business yet. The late, seasonal opening allowed Bolduc to bypass Maine’s mandatory non-essential business closure. However, this has also made it difficult for Bolduc to determine whether or not he should apply for federal coronavirus-relief aid.

“It’s hard to say if it’s really affected us yet. We’ll know by the end of the year if it did because people might be doing small get-togethers for the fourth of July, but after that, it might just stop because of money or whatever,” Bolduc said. “So after September is when I look at the whole picture.”

 

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