I have one rule as I take the Claremore/Catoosa exit northeast on Route 66: at the first fireworks stand I see—and I mean a stand; not a warehouse, not a store—I will pull off the road. I want to get a sense of what it’s like to run one of these homegrown seasonal businesses. Past the Hard Rock Casino and the Mazzio’s billboards and the Blue Whale, Tulsa's sprawl evens out: groves of oaks and hackberries wobble in the wind as I come down off the bridge spanning the Verdigris River.
Verdigris (pop. 5,256) appears, and past a Sonic and a Dollar General and a Casey’s whose gas pumps are all plastic-bagged, I see one: a bright yellow shack, covered by a blue tarp. I didn’t choose Ammo Hut Fireworks. It chose me.
Lisa Hughes smiles and greets me as I walk up. She’s been working this stand for fourteen years, she tells me. Until last year, there was no blue tarp. Back then, the sun simply poured down onto the bright yellow fireworks shack; one could be forgiven for thinking the sunlight dyed the wood that color. Now, this year, voila: blue tarp. Keeps the heat off.
By Oklahoma June standards, today’s heat is tame. The Weather app registers in the upper 80s, thanks to the grey down of cloud pushing across Green Country’s overhead blue. Underneath the tarp, it’s even cooler.
The political sentiment, however, is hot. “Trump Sparklers,” “Try It In A Small Town,” and “We Will Make America Safe Again” cakes (large clusters of fireworks which can be activated via a single wick) are all for sale here. Asked if they sold Biden fireworks during the Biden administration, Hughes laughs.