By Gabrielle Terrett

The Vicksburg Post

At Mitchell Distributing Co. the New Year’s season and the Fourth of July are the busiest times of year.

Mitchell Distributing, a local fireworks company, has been offering its products to the city of Vicksburg for more than 70 years.

The company moved to its location at 3506 Manor Drive in 2000.

“I’m thinking that with the weather about to be really cold that people will probably want to get their fireworks sooner and shoot them on Friday or Saturday night because it won’t be as cold as New Year’s night on either one of those nights,” Rickey Mitchell, owner of Mitchell Distributing Co. said.

Mitchell said business is brisk this time of year and during the Fourth of July holiday.

“Between the two holidays, New Years and the Fourth of July, we get more business during New Year’s,” Mitchell said. “Legal times to sell fireworks in Mississippi for the Fourth of July is from June 15 to July 5. So it’s a much shorter season, but during this time of year you can actually start selling fireworks from Dec. 5 and you can keep selling until Jan. 2.”

The extended shopping period leads to more business during New Years.

“We get really busy between Christmas and New Year’s,” Mitchell said. “It’s about a week between the two days but still it’s jammed into a tight time frame. However, we do pretty good business before Christmas too.”

Mitchell said many popular fireworks are simple ones that can be handled with adult supervision.

“Sparklers and firecrackers, reload shells, fountains and we have a variety of things in assortment packs,” Mitchell said. “Most of these have been around for years and years and the parents that bring their children, they kind of revert back to what they’ve always used and shot and enjoyed.”

Though sparklers and plain firecrackers are well liked in the fireworks community, one product called a cake is also particularly popular and also much safer.

“There’s another popular set of items that we sale called cakes and it can shoot anywhere from eight to ten shots,” Mitchell said. “You just light the fuse one time and you can get eight to ten shots or even anywhere up to 49 shots and even a big cake up to 220 shots. So you just light it one time and step back.”

Though fireworks can always be fun, safety should always be a first priority. Read and strictly follow instructions for fireworks to have safe fun during holidays.

“Always read the instructions on the package. Every firework has instructions on the package. You need adult supervision when you’re talking about being out there with kids, you need to follow the directions completely because anything can be dangerous if mishandled or misused,” Mitchell said. “Do not hold any fireworks in your hands and when you get through shooting fireworks, particularly the cake items that shoot multiple times, after that firework goes off and is complete don’t ever go out there and say we didn’t get all 12 or 20 shots or something is wrong.”

It is also extremely important to never doctor a firework into going off for the safety of those lighting the fireworks and watching the fireworks. After care is also a task to participate in as well.

“Never go out there and try to figure out what’s wrong,” Mitchell said. “Always when you’re done soak them with a water hose because they have a tendency to go off since the embers down in the cake items are still glowing and hot and if the wind is blowing it’ll reignite and the cake will sit there and burn on the ground.”

Mitchell encourages folks to be smart about lighting fireworks.

“Use some common sense and use excellent judgment and never leave kids out there with fireworks at all,” Mitchell said. “Always be out there supervising them.”