Blackjack Fireworks

Thanks for ruining Vancouver, JA.

Good people, smart, well trained. Fun people, great prices, awsome inventory we will be back

So here we are, July 2^nd, and it just occurred to me that Independence Day is coming up (What?!? It’s on the 4^th this year?) and I’m surrounded by no pyrotechnics.
So, I’m up in VanWa on a client appointment and decided I’d just make a quick detour off the highway to hit the big yellow building. I mean, it’s right there, right?
So after driving up and down Hwy 99 four times, I finally figured out which tiny little unnamed street you’re supposed to drive into to get to Blackjack.
No sooner did the compass read «W» and I start heading down the dirt road than I’m accosted by a literal gauntlet of high school girls, both sides of the road, each bearing the signature-​colored tee-​shirt of their particular fireworks tent, hootin’ and hollerin’ and waving flags bearing brand logos of their explody stuff. «Turn here,» an orange-​shirted blonde obliges. «No, the next driveway» screams the red-​shirted brunette fifty feet hence. Finally, amongst a sea of yellow shirts and a fifteen foot sign that reads «all fireworks purchasers MUST turn right here» I hang my right and find the dirt and grass parking lot for Blackjack.
I get in, and find there are as many employees as customers. I mean, literally there were like ninety people in yellow shirts, and maybe the same number of shoppers. I ask, «Where do I find the stuff that’s legal for Oregon?». It must have been an odd question (I suspect that most people shop here just to buy the not-​Kosher-​for-​Oregon product) because I kind of got this odd look and then the obligatory «Oh, yeah, that stuff’s on this bottom half of this wall in that corner, along with the section over there.»
Prices, Meh. It’s been a bit (about, oh, a year) since I shopped for fireworks, but most of the snapping and crackle balls and sparklers and smoke balls seemed like about the same price as we’d pay in Oregon.
Anyway, the place has an awesome selection if you have the privilege of residing North of the state line and can actually set things off that go up with a bang. For us Oregon folks, well, the selection is about as good as your average tent.
It’s decent, but not sure I’d head up there again versus just staying local to Portland.

Back in the 80’s my friends and I would make our annual run from Pleasant Hill, Oregon to Black Jack in Hazel Dell and fill the back of our little Chevy Citation full of wonderful things that go Boom, Bang, and Zing! Back then, there wasn’t too many choices to pick from, and Black Jack seemed like a good place to get the very products a young warm blooded American needed to celebrate Fourth of July in fine fashion! My how times have changed. As I understand it, the owners have changed hands over the years, and not to BJ’s benefit. I attempted to try doing business with them again back in 2009, and was disgusted with the bait-​and-​switch tactics used, the overly priced products, and the complete lack of customer service among its staff. The TNT mega tent just across the parking lot (follow the trail of cigarette butts and listen for the distorting stereo speakers blaring out loud party music by the ginormous blow up castles that smell like old plastic and beer)… is not much better than BJ, just bigger. Somehow, when I enter either one of these establishments, I feel like raw meat being fed to a pond filled with hungry piranha’s. When I leave, I feel like I need a shower and a confessional. The long and short of it, go to a smaller tent with like products. Being a current Hazel Dell resident, I don’t mess around with the hype and hoopla from Black Jack and/​or TNT’s Mega Tent. I have found excellent prices and products from Bomber Brother’s tents, (my favorite is right on HWY 99 and 78^th in the middle of Hazel Dell) They offer the Infamous Excalibur and Black Mamba Mortor Shells — which is an absolute must for my neighborhood barrage. But, more importantly, they offer genuine customer service, and consistent great prices without the hype and hoopla. Make it a safe and fun Fourth of July everyone! Cheers!

You want Fireworks and you live in SW Washington or the Portland Metro area. this place literally has it all including what would be illegal fireworks in Oregon (but not illegal in WA)
They have play area for young kids, family stuff too. So you can bring your small children and have some fun while you’re buying your goodies. It’s always at this one location and only open a few days leading up to the 4^th. It’s crazy busy too. Parking is organized because of how busy it gets. You don’t need to pack patience because there is believe it or not quite a bit of room in the warehouse.
Check it out sometime.

So my husband and I lived most of our lives in California in the Bay Area where fireworks have been illegal forever. Moving to a place where fireworks are legal and readily available has been a resurrection of our obviously deprived childhoods.
We did the sensible thing the first few years of living up here and bought fireworks from our local fireworks stand and called it good. Although I’d been hearing that the selection was MUCH better in Vancouver.
So today in my 37 week pregnant state we dragged ourselves and our two toddlers up to Vancouver to see what the ruckus was about exactly. We were NOT disappointed.
Driving into TNT we got a kick out of the signs from their competition! Pretty darn hilarious. My husband had to keep me on track because I wanted to see everyone’s firework stands.
TNT has a fantastic selection of all sorts of fireworks and all sorts of price ranges. There we tons of fireworks I’d never even heard of before. We picked out a good assortment and only over spent our budget by $ 20. Next year our whole budget will be spent on roman candles and mortars. Those were our favs out of what we bought. We also got a really good fountain with a baseball theme. That thing went on FOREVER.
My kids enjoyed their free otter pops and the bouncy castle slide combo TNT had set up.
The people working at TNT were super helpful and just plain nice! It must be a fun business to run because everyone I saw was smiling and having a good time.
We’re considering a second run up there tomorrow for more mortars and roman candles.

I completely forgot that I already reviewed Black Jack. At any rate, I shopped here exclusively this year, and was quite surprised at what I found:
1. A long line to get in. It moved very quickly though and check out was a snap.
2. B1G1 and B1G2 deals were all over the store. At first I thought that the prices were probably jacked up to cover the freebie, but after visting BJ, and then TNT next door, and then returning to BJ, I realized they really were a better deal.
3. The store is SO TINY that it can’t accomodate large crowds. BJ should really limit the number of people they allow in at one time. I can only imagine what would have happened if there was a fire…
Next year I will arrive earlier and know what I want before I enter. This is NOT a browsing store!

BOOM! BANG! BOOM!
Coming from SoCal, I’ve never been able to buy real, honest to gawd fireworks for the 4^th. The city of Fillmore always used to sell «safe and sane» fireworks, you know, sparklers, snakes and such. However, they were illegal in every surrounding community.
I bought $ 126 worth of mortars and other truly explosive stuff at Blackjack Fireworks this year. Wow, what a selection, and the competition from the other surrounding fireworks vendors was intense. There was quite a crowd of ‘cracker shoppers out on the 3^rd, but there appeared to be plenty of TNT to go around. I’ve never filled a shopping cart with fireworks before.
We had a helluva good time lighting ‘em off. I like the fact that the governments here the Pacific Northwest don’t begrudge their citizenry the opportunity to lose life and limb and experience the hideous pain of 3^rd degree burns. Gratefully, there were no major mishaps. The fire we ignited in the neighbor’s bushes was quickly extinguished and I lost only a small amount of arm hair due to an errant sparkler.
Good times. I’m already making plans for next year’s pyrotechnics.