While owning or selling fireworks is illegal in East Baton Rouge Parish, cross Bayou Manchac into Ascension Parish and firework stands are profiting from their northern neighbor’s prohibition.
At Mongo’s Fireworks, located on Airline Highway near the parish line, one can find people from Baton Rouge filling the parking lot.
“We’re as close to the border as we can get,” says Dominick George, stand manager. “Also with the booming development in Prairieville, it seemed like the right (location).”
Similar scenes play out just over the Mississippi River Bridge in Port Allen as well as off Interstate 12 in Denham Springs, where, like Ascension, selling fireworks—especially to Baton Rouge residents—is big business at New Year’s and on the Fourth of July.
On this day, there’s a healthy mix of East Baton Rouge and Ascension parish residents frequenting Mongo’s, which opened Saturday for the Fourth of July season. George says he typically learns more about his Baton Rouge customers because they’ll chat with him while they look for smaller fireworks items.
Less than a mile up the road, Patricia Brown, who works at the Cajun Carl’s Fireworks in the Winn Dixie parking lot, says since they opened last Thursday, she’s seen more Ascension Parish residents.
The owner of Cajun Carl’s lives in Missouri, but operates stands along the I-12 corridor in Walker, Amite and Ponchatoula, most of which are located in Winn Dixie parking lots, where they can catch people as they shop, Brown says.
Gonzales-resident Eric “Mondo” Russell, the owner of Mongo’s, takes a different approach, pitching his stands in fields that he owns, claiming it’s safer for customers, staff and neighbors.
The busiest day of the season is the holiday itself, where business is expected to be nonstop from midday to closing, though it’s not as busy as New Year’s Eve. The difference in business between the two holidays, estimates George, can fall between $30,000 to $60,000.
