GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) However, the business is surviving in a very tough environment. "Our sales were low anyway because of the ban on lighting them," says Timi Meyer, owner of Fireworks City in Grand Junction. Meyer saw this coming, "my thought is it just kinda said just close your doors and be safe for everybody, and move on for this year." Something that's difficult for any business owner to do. "We have no business because we had to shut the doors."
Now Fireworks City has become a ghost town. "Given that the circumstances of the drought and everything this year, it's totally understandable." Meyer thought sales would be low, not banned.
"It's maybe a third of our income for the year," she says.
Normally the shelves would be empty, but they're full. The lights are off, the doors locked, and the sign will have to be retired until next year.
"The ban includes selling fireworks; you can't sell them; you certainly can't light them or ignite them; you can possess them; but you can't light those fireworks," says Kate Porras, Public Information Officer with the Grand Junction Police Department. Porras says the ban is as strict as it gets.
"There are very, very few things that you can burn legally right now with the burn ban," says Porras.
But isn't banning the sale of fireworks a little extreme? "It is pretty strict to not allow us to sell, but then again you still have the people that will come in, and they're going to disregard the law, and that would be the people we're going to sell to," says Meyer.
Meyer is satisfied the city is leading by example. "It is a little bit more reassuring to see that as well, that the city took that to heart too," says Meyer.
Meanwhile, Meyer is hoping to make up lost revenue in the fall. "If the city will issue another permit for us to allow us to sell, what I probably will do is open up between Christmas and New Years."
And like the rest of us, Meyer is hoping mother nature will cooperate next year. "Praying for rain, for the rest of the year, and that we don't have such as severe a season next year; that we'll be open again next year for fireworks, for the 4th of July."
City of Grand Junction officials tell us fireworks will be postponed until the fall. If you light fireworks, you'll get a class 3 misdemeanor and a $750 fine.
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