I have a weird little theory:
The more neighborhood fireworks, the better the economy is in your area.
I noticed way back when I first moved to this area of Las Vegas in 1999 that the neighbors from all sides, and blocks away, went nuts on July 4th and were shooting off pretty impressive, and most likely illegal, fireworks all day and into the night. I never buy any - seems like a waste of money and not really into the boom bang ooh and ahh of fireworks, but the neighboring area seemed to love 'em.
Then, as the local economy started to tank, you would see less and less. For the past few years it got to be almost quiet on July 4th, other than some firecrackers and the occasional tiny roman candle from a few blocks away.
However, this year was unbelievable and easily surpassed the heydays of years past …from all sides and for blocks around, people were once again going crazy with fireworks that were almost professional quality! I think my first hint should have been when a student told me on Tuesday that he and a couple friends had spent over $1000 on fireworks and were going out into the desert to blow them off on the 4th. There were some major bucks spent yesterday by most of these neighborhood people.
I figure if people feel like they can go out and drop a couple hundred, or a thousand or more, dollars on fireworks for the 4th, they probably have a least a fairly good expendable income, as nothing is more expendable than fireworks.
Ways my theory could be wrong:
Fireworks are cheaper this year?
People don’t care what it costs and spend the money they don’t have anyway.
My neighborhood was untypical and I happen to live in a neighborhood of terrorists/pyromaniacs in training.
Or could my theory be right and people felt good enough about their jobs and bank accounts to go ahead and splurge this year again?
Did you notice any difference in your neighborhood?