Jurassic Fireworks, located off the Terry Bison Road exit on Interstate 25, is pictured on Wednesday afternoon. A sign on the gate to the store reads “Go to Artillery. Lowest prices!!” Both Jurassic Fireworks and Artillery World are firework sales companies owned by Breanna Elliott.
Jurassic Fireworks, located off the Terry Bison Road exit on Interstate 25, is pictured on Wednesday afternoon. A sign on the gate to the store reads “Go to Artillery. Lowest prices!!” Both Jurassic Fireworks and Artillery World are firework sales companies owned by Breanna Elliott.
CHEYENNE — The Laramie County Board of County Commissioners denied several fireworks permits for two stores by the Terry Ranch Road exit off Interstate 25, describing the owners as poor community partners and say they have behaved in an obnoxious manner.
Troy Thompson, a Laramie County commissioner, said Jurassic Fireworks, one of the companies denied, would project recorded messages on bullhorns criticizing Phantom Fireworks, which is next door. The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office has had to address the noise complaints there multiple times.
Thompson said Jurassic Fireworks employees also would stand on top of tractor-trailers waving flags, and stand in the middle of the road to direct traffic to their store, instead of the nearby rivals.
“It’s very dangerous things that we have talked to these guys about in the past,” Thompson said. “And so, in light of that, that’s why I voted to not renew their permit.”
Mike Elliott, who currently oversees operations at Jurassic Fireworks, said the county’s decision is a violation of civil rights and discriminatory against his company.
“Usually, I’d be really upset,” Elliott said. “But I have some of the best attorneys that are going to be coming up if it has to go any further.”
Elliott said that his unorthodox tactics are justified because of the way Phantom Fireworks has treated him. He said he believes the rival company has spread rumors about him, including that he sexually harassed their female employees, attempted to pay people to burn down their building and sends people to damage Phantom’s products.
Phantom Fireworks, located off the Terry Bison Road exit on Interstate 25, is pictured Wednesday afternoon.
Samir Knox/Wyoming Tribune Eagle
He also said Phantom Fireworks asked Terry Bison Ranch to remove a 40-foot banner on a semitruck advertising Jurassic Fireworks on a piece of property he was renting from the ranch. He estimated they lost around $200,000 that year as a result.
In response, Elliott ran prerecorded messages on bullhorns saying things along the lines of ‘avoid Phantom Fireworks, extreme high prices and scams.’ He said the bullhorns are just his “little M.O.” and that customers love the extra energy and flag waving.
“We’re fighting fire with fire,” Elliott said.
Phantom Fireworks owners could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Although the businesses Jurassic Fireworks and Artillery World, the other company denied, are both owned by Elliot’s daughter, Breanna, he said he oversees the operations because Breanna is scared to be at the location after encounters with rude customers and competitors.
He said the business is discriminated against by local government officials because they are a Colorado-owned company and display a large sign on their building which communicates that.
“They can’t get past this — the marketing value of it,” he said. “It is very shallow.”
Thompson said the county has received complaints about Jurassic Fireworks from multiple businesses in the area, and that they were difficult when working with county staff.
“When these guys came to town, I had cause for alarm [from] the way our staff was treated through that process,” he said. “I do not think that they have been a very good community partner. Last summer, we received complaints from surrounding businesses with bullhorns and just obnoxious behavior disrupting other businesses.
“We talk every year [with the business], ‘please be a better partner, please be a better partner,’ and it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse.”
Elliott said it was the opposite, claiming that county staff did everything in their power to make construction difficult because they are a Colorado company.
Laramie County Commissioner Buck Holmes echoed Thompson’s concerns, saying that Jurassic Fireworks and Artillery World are not the kind of businesses he wants operating in the county.
Elliott has yet to take any legal action against the county’s decision, but he said he was considering the possibility.
“We will pursue every possible step, not only to make sure my daughter’s businesses are open this year, but to make sure that we are finally, once and for all, always, from here on out left alone and not targeted.”
In addition to the one Wyoming location, there are six Jurassic Fireworks stores in Colorado, one in Kansas and another in Missouri.
Laramie County Commissioner Brian Lovett was the only one who voted in favor of approving the permit for Jurassic Fireworks. Lovett and Commissioner Gunnar Malm were the only ones to vote in favor of approving three separate permit applications for Artillery World. Commissioners Linda Heath, Holmes and Thompson voted against all four permit applications, meaning none of them passed.
The county’s governing body unanimously approved firework permit applications from Phantom Fireworks and USA Fireworks at Tuesday’s meeting.
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Noah Zahn is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s local government/business reporter. He can be reached at 307-633-3128 or nzahn@wyomingnews.com. Follow him on X @NoahZahnn.
