Big Bang theory

Big Bang theory
The craft of oohs and ahs
by John H. Sime

It’s July, the month of going to sleep to the sounds of neighbor kids shooting off fireworks and the fantastic displays of color, light and sound that come with our national observance of the Fourth of July.

One Readstown man has taken this fascination and created a business that stems from this ancient practice, which originated in China centuries ago. Mike Callaway, of R&M Liquidators, is impressed by the intricate work that goes into each thrill. “Fireworks are 90 percent handmade,” he says. “ In China it is considered to be an art form.”

Callaway has branched out of his hometown with stores specializing in fireworks in Ferryville and Prairie du Chien. He recently opened Wisconsin’s largest fireworks store in Baldwin. He and his wife Roberta began in the 1980s with one liquidator store in Readstown and gradually moved into the sale of fireworks as a lucrative sideline. He has watched industry change dramatically in the past 20 years.

“The fireworks ten years ago compared to now is like comparing an old Model T to a brand new Cadillac.” Callaway says. Some of the impetus for change has come from the Chinese government: “As regulation in China became more stringent there was less and less piecework,” he says. The fireworks industry has gradually moved from being a home-based cottage industry to adopting a factory model, usually hiring the former farmers who once made fireworks at home.

Callaway traveled to China four years ago to tour the factories and the homes of some of the workers. Their lives are Spartan, bare bones, often living adjacent to their work quarters, but life for them is still better than it was a generation ago on their poverty farms. Callaway came back from China truly impressed with the people: “You could be the only foreigner in 200 miles and you would not feel threatened at all. They are hardworking people, people who don’t waste anything.”.

The use of fireworks is woven into the Chinese culture. Every celebration includes fireworks and there are specific ritual uses as well. “The Chinese use them for good luck. Every time you open up a new business you have fireworks to scare away the evil spirits,” Callaway says.

But what is the attraction to fireworks in this country? Well, what’s not to like? “They are pretty exciting,” Callaway says. “You never know what they are going to be. Men generally prefer the big solid salutes that can go a few hundred feet in the air and shake the ground after a big white explosion. Women like the ones that make colorful shapes. In a holiday they put the cap on the evening. It makes people feel good.”

The construction of fireworks in China is a painstaking endeavor done entirely by hand. Callaway described the laborious process involved in making a simple Roman candle. A cardboard tube is rolled, stitched, and capped by steel and clay at the ends. Then a worker, often a woman, steadies about 75 such tubes between her legs and packs the pyrotechnic material into the tubes along with the small round balls that make the colorful effects. Two more people then package and label the Roman candle and a third one handwraps it into cellophane. Even simple firecrackers are hand-woven together before packaging. Machines could probably not do a lot of this work.

Callaway is planning to put on a big fireworks show for the Village of Ferryville on July 26. This will be a large show that would cost $12,000 if done in retail. There will likely be some ground shakers and some colorful shapes. And people will likely feel good.

John H. Sime, born in Viroqua, graduated from UW-Madison in comparative literature, and owns and operates Sime Funeral Home of Readstown.