DIY Fireworks In The Bronx (But Not Everyone's Cheering)

Fireworks from Pennsylvania coming to New York for a DIY display in the Bronx

Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers will gather in on rooftops, in city parks and all along the East River to watch this year's Macy's Fourth of July fireworks. Others will try with all their might to avoid the massive display. But some residents in Country Club, a neighborhood along Eastchester Bay in the Bronx, don't really have a choice in the matter, because the locals put on a fireworks show of their very own.

“You think Macy’s puts on a good show then you’ve never been to Country Club for the Fourth,” neighborhood local Shane bragged, as he unfurled an American flag on his front porch. Shane didn't want to provide WNYC with his last name. That's because he’s one of the many people on his street who plan to launch an illegal fireworks display to commemorate Independence Day. He said they do it every year. “We really put on a show and every year it never ceases to amaze me. Every which way you look something is blowing up in the sky.”

It’s a neighborhood tradition said Paulie, another Country Club local. He said he’s got a medium-sized stash to work with this year. “We have over 150 mortars, two nitro boxes and we’re gonna do the same thing we did last year, same thing we've been doing since the 80's since I was a kid—blow the block up.”

Fireworks are illegal in New York, but both Paulie and Shane maintain that the cops give them a break on the holiday. “Cops aren’t coming into this neighborhood," said Paulie. "On the Fourth of July they're very, very, very lenient."

The NYPD's 45th precinct did not immediately return a request for comment, but Sienna, a 15 year-old riding her bike around the block, complained that while the Fourth is fun “it can get annoying” because the festivities get dragged out, with participants doing test runs leading up to the Fourth, and then using up their leftovers in the weeks following the holiday.

Though residents maintain its not a competition, when asked who has the best display on the block there is no hesitation. “That guy,” said Shane, pointing across a small canal that cuts through his back yard, “He always out does everybody.”

Another neighbor, John agreed, “I spend hundreds but he spends thousands.”

But when told he'd won the hard-earned respect of he neighbors, Country Club's reputed fireworks king demurred. “You got the wrong guy,” he said. “Fireworks are illegal.”