Willie family continuing decades-long fireworks tradition

When Matt Willie stands behind the counter of his family’s fireworks stand outside the Pine Ridge Mall, it continues a tradition he’s been a part of for nearly his entire life.

“Obviously I don’t remember it, but I guess my mom was carrying me in one of these baby carriers and the fire marshal came by and saw that I was in the stand and asked her to take me out, ” Willie said.

Matt’s mom moved him into the trunk of her car, opened the hatch and kept selling.

Matt, now 32, is currently enrolled at ISU, pursuing an engineering degree, but has no plans to stop selling each year.

He and his wife, Elizabeth, have been running the stand together for the last 13 years and have six total in the Pocatello-Chubbuck area.

Elizabeth said she had no idea what she was getting herself into when they got married.

“We were married in May and started immediately working on getting the stand ready,” she said.

It’s been a crazy experience for the couple, with each and every Fourth of July spent at the stand.

“First year I was eight months pregnant in the stand,” Elizabeth said. “That was hot and miserable, but it’s worth it.”

Now their kids, all six of them, are making their way behind the counter.

“It’s a family tradition,” Elizabeth said, “they love it. They love setting off the fireworks and working, everyone begs to work at the stand.”

But deciding who might be the next one to run the stand could be a struggle.

“They might fight over it,” Elizabeth joked.

A small piece of the tradition is coming to end this year though, as Elizabeth and the kids will spend Independence Day away from the stand.

“We’ve never had a Fourth of July other than selling fireworks,” Matt said. “I keep trying to talk him into staying home, but it doesn’t happen,” Elizabeth added.

Now, Matt is looking forward to Wednesday and Thursday, the final days of the season he can sell.

“The last two to three days are always our busiest. It’s always the last two or three days that make or break the year, so I’m just hoping that we do consistent like we did.”

If you haven’t gotten your explosive fix yet, you can still grab items until Thursday.