The photo below is a snapshot of a fireworks tent. Recent changes in Minnesota law will allow tent sales for fireworks almost anywhere, even in cities, like Eden Prairie, that are restrictive on tent sales.
The fireworks industry has been very successful during the past two state legislative sessions in getting the state to amend its laws to allow more varieties of fireworks in Minnesota. The law cracked last year, and from all indications, it will continue to crack until any meaningful difference between Minnesota and Wisconsin has been eliminated (just kidding).
During the 2003 state legislative session, the legislature amended state law to clamp down on cities that were too tough in their regulation of local fireworks sales. Some cities were charging high sales permit fees. Some were restricting fireworks sales to permanent buildings with sprinkler systems. Some were discouraging local merchants from selling fireworks at all.
So, the 2003 state legislature removed or relaxed most local regulations on the sale of fireworks. Cities can charge permit fees, but they have been reduced to $100-$350. Depending on the type of permit, that amount isn’t even close to covering our internal costs of conducting the inspections. The state also forbid cities from requiring that fireworks sales merchants carry insurance to sell fireworks. Finally, the state required cities to allow fireworks sales from tents if we allow other things to be sold from tents. We do that in Eden Prairie. We allow fruit and veggies to be sold from tents. You might see one of these in a parking lot near you soon:
Fireworks tent sales probably won’t be the end of the world, unless you happen to be in one of these tents when a fire breaks out. There are real public safety concerns about fireworks tent sales, but we’re forced to roll the dice because fireworks industry lobbyists are convincing folks.
