Tents spring up all around Hot Springs and Hot Springs Village, beginning June 20; a few weeks before Independence Day. Inside, vast quantities of fireworks are offered for sale. Signs promote 500 firecrackers for $1.99. Curious as to the genesis of these tents, I did a bit of research and found some interesting information.
A company called A-1 Arkansas Fireworks, the top of whose website proclaims “Bondservants of our Lord Jesus Christ,” offers up the positives and negatives of operating a tent for the company. Among the positives, the site claims, is the potential for “tremendous monetary benefits.” Some operators, the site says, earn $20,000 for the season (June 20-July 5); many earn $10,000. Among the negatives: the tent must operate from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and the operator (or someone) must be in the tent twenty-four hours a day during the season; a cot must be provided and the operator must sleep in the tent.
There may be other distributors; I suspect there are. But I didn’t bother looking. The topic doesn’t hold enough interest to warrant more than a cursory exploration.
None of the up to $20,000 an operator might earn for the season will come from me. Well, maybe indirectly, if an A-1 operator sells the fireworks that will be used for the Hot Springs Village fireworks extravaganza over Lake Balboa. Our neighbors have invited us to watch the show from their boat. I suspect it will be quite a shindig and I’m looking forward to it.
WWJBU? (what would Jesus blow up?)