Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

LANETT — This is a make-it or break-it week for Boom City USA.

The big fireworks warehouse is located off Exit 77 on I-85 and is right in the middle of one of its two busy weeks of the year. Friday will be July 4, a day of much celebrating with fireworks. People are coming in droves to Boom City to stock up on all kinds of stuff that whisks, whirls, zooms and booms in the darkened sky.

Boom City is prepared for the big rush that leads up to the Fourth, with a huge assortment of firecrackers, missiles, rockets, spinners, sparklers and many other items.

“Our warehouse is packed full right now,” Store Manager Marsha Pickens said. “We have a whole bunch of new 500 grams, new mortar sets, all the favorite brands, plus some new ones. ”

The five-inch, six-inch and seven-inch mortars are popular heading into Independence Day. These high-density polyethylene tubes are sealed on one end to prevent hot gases from the lift charge from escaping underneath. When launched, the missile travels an estimated 200 feet per second, or 135 miles per hour. Depending on their size, quality and the atmospheric conditions, rockets can go from 50 to 200 feet in the air. At their apex, they explode with a loud bang or crackle, sending colorful streamers into the air.

“One good shot from a mortar will make you go ooh and ahh” Pickens said. “We have some fireworks that will light up red, white and blue, and some that send down parachutes. One of our items will fire 69 shots and will last up to three minutes. It lights up the whole sky and is absolutely beautiful.”

One of Boom City’s top sellers over the past 15 years is a brand known as Loyal to None. As long as it’s popular, Boom City USA will be loyal to it and its snarling pirate logo.

Other popular items include the Saturn Missile Battery, Full Speed (a seven-inch artillery shell) and newer artillery items such as Grandissimo, Wing It!!, Gorilla Warfare, Hit the Road Jack, Blonde Joke, Old School Cool, Bells and Whistles and Sassy.

Boom City usually follows a pattern. They will sell from wall to wall by midnight on July 4. It will take them several months to restock the big warehouse, and they will sell out again on New Year’s Eve.

From mid-to-late June into the first week in July, Boom City gets lots of customers from Chambers and Troup counties.

“We have lots of people from Opelika and Auburn and from Phenix City on the Alabama side.” Pickens said. “People are also coming here from LaGrange, Hogansville, Newnan and the Atlanta area on the Georgia side. Travelers going up and down the interstate often stop here to see what we have.”

Pickens is pleased with the young people from the local area who work at the store during the busy periods. “They are good kids, and we are glad to have them,” she said.

Some of them man the cash registers in the check-out line. Others escort customers out the side door once they have made their purchases. Some work the parking lot, helping people find a parking space and seeing that they get out onto Phillips Road with no trouble when they are leaving.

A gone but not forgotten “employee” is Boom City’s mascot, Wilton — a giant, blow-up gorilla that once sat on top of the building and has since retired. He’s more of an art object now.

There are paintings of him on the front and on the south side of the building. The same image graces t-shirts worn by the staff.

“It was an adventure having Wilton on top of the building,” Pickens said. “When a big gust of wind came by, he’d sometimes get blown off the top. There were times he’d wind up across the road.”

One time, Wilton was blown a good distance past Phillips Road, landing in a field near the historic Huguley family cemetery. Another time he was blown north along I-85, landing on a cell tower.

“We got him down, sewed him up and put him back on top of the building,” Pickens said.

Boom City USA is big in promoting safety. They encourage everyone using fireworks to always follow safety guidelines.

Firefighter Mike is their spokesman and has a long list of safety rules he wants everyone to follow. They are listed at www.boomcityusa.com.