For some, it's June 21st. For others it's Rose Festival or the first Widmer Hefeweizen of the season on a restaurant's porch or a trip to the coast. But another event marks the beginning of summer in the NW for me: super obnoxious radio ads for Blackjack's Fireworks, the gunpowder-fueled wonderland up in Vancouver.

It's been raining off and on over the past few days here in Portland. I woke up early this morning for work (yes, I work on Saturdays now. Or, as some would have it, Caturdays.).

The sun was out, the birds were bleeping and there it was as I headed into work: an ad for Blackjack's, now Blackjack's Pyrotechnics in the "BIG, YELLOW BUILDING." An annual obligatory stop for Oregonians in search of illegal-down-here fireworks, Blackjack's is an institution, as Northwest as microbrews, Packy the elephant or strip clubs.

"BLACKJACK'S! BLAAAAAAAAACKJAAAAAACK'S! DON’T SETTLE FOR FLY-BY-NIGHT FIREWORKS STANDS IN CIRCUS TENTS!"

I'll be making my annual pilgrimage up there after work tonight.

Labels: explosives