Fireworks Shortage In Maine Might Mean Less Ka-Boom On The 4th

It's been a few years now since Maine made fireworks legal. Before that, it was laughably illegal. Like, do you actually know anyone who's been legit "busted" for fireworks? Out at my camp, even long before they were legal, on the 4th, there were fireworks displays that rivaled Bangor's.

Nowadays, lots of Mainers partake in the launching of fireworks privately. With a few fireworks stores right here in the area, they aren't hard to get a hold of. You can get yourself all hooked up to blow everyone's minds out on the lake, or in your backyard, or pretty much wherever you choose, barring city ordinances that say otherwise.

However this year, your beloved back yard bombs might be a little harder to come by. According to Fox ABC Maine, some issues in the supply/shipping/manufacturing chain may cause some availability issues at the local level. This could mean that you might not get all those whizzing, whirring, holiday displays you were hoping for.

Phantom Fireworks Vice President, Bill Weimer, explained it this way to Fox:

It starts with a shortage of containers in China in which to pack the fireworks, a shortage of container space on the ships... Fireworks have a limited amount of space allotted to us, and everybody’s fighting for it, so it’s very difficult to get space, and then once you get into the United States, the ports are a mess.

As of right now, local stores aren't howling too badly about a shortage, but they are suggesting that you may want to stock up early. They say it's possible they may only receive about 70% of what they actually ordered, but don't expect to fully run out. But you may not check everything off your list of wants this year.

We'll see how it actually affects people on the 4th. Like I said earlier, out at my camp, it's always a treat to watch the neighbors strut their stuff. If it's any quieter out there this year, I guess we'll know why. My guess is that it'll seem just like any other year. But then, I'm just a spectator. What do I know?