As we approach the annual fireworks sales season this year (2021) in Douglas County, Kansas, we’d like to extend a very warm e-welcome to you all. We are very happy to announce the 25th Anniversary of our family-owned and family-friendly fireworks business, and hope to celebrate it with you in person.
The Karlin Family has been providing the best fireworks to patriots like you throughout the greater Lawrence area for over two and a half decades … and this year, to commemorate our journey together, we are going big with a 10% discount for you on everything in our entire online store! Just be sure to enter the discount code “FreeState” at checkout.
Best Selection of Premium & Novelty Fireworks in Lawrence with Tailored Custom-Ordering & Priority Delivery Services
FreeState Fireworks provides a comprehensive selection of premium consumer fireworks that are appropriate for any age. FreeState Fireworks offers free consultations, and the convenience of online shopping with hassle-free curbside pick up. You can order everything starting at midnight on June 30th and pick it up whenever it is most convenient for you, to beat the rush! FreeState Fireworks accepts cash, credit cards, PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App, as well as crypto currencies.
We offer the best selection of fireworks in Douglas County … from the Southwest corner of Lawrence on the Kasold curve. FreeState Fireworks offers the most novelty fireworks, fireworks for kids, and convenient pick up for online orders, so you don’t have to shop in a hot and humid tent. If you want to shop in person, you’ll realize that we have the best tent in town that offers superior ventilation and commercial fans at each corner blowing cooler air. It’s a permanent and heavy duty canvas building with roll up garage doors on each end and it’s raised off the ground several inches to allow for cross ventilation from all directions, but doesn’t allow rain to blow in. FreeState Fireworks believes that the biggest opportunity for growth revolves around digital marketing, and plans to establish the most comprehensive and user-friendly responsive eCommerce website in Kansas, that is fully optimized for mobile smartphones, tablets and desktop computers.
Since my father didn’t have a website or collect any data on customers, I’d love to learn more about how we are doing, from our customers. We will provide opportunities to give us your open and honest feedback, reviews, etc so that we can continue improving your customer experience. FreeState Fireworks is starting an email customer list, newsletter, blog, email marketing, social media marketing, and YouTube channel. FreeState Fireworks plans to market free consultations, the most convenient and reliable pickup service for online orders, and free loading into vehicles.
Our Mission Statement
FreeState Fireworks is committed to facilitating safe celebrations by providing premium fireworks, at competitive prices and by offering the best possible customer service and experience. We continue to reward our knowledgeable, long-standing employees with competitive pay and great perks.
Our Story | Proudly Serving Douglas County, Kansas Patriots with the Highest Quality Premium & Novelty Fireworks for 25 Years!
In July of 1996, our father Rod Karlin, saw an opportunity to turn his passion for fireworks and entertaining people, into a business called Midwest Fireworks in our hometown of Lawrence, Kansas. Rod started up with approximately 15-20 wobbly homemade tables, an old leaky tent, and about $8,500 of inventory that he bought wholesale with his credit cards. He “co-founded” the family-owned business with his sons Brent, Brady, and Troy.
My brothers and I helped our dad manage & run his fireworks business that first year, and we actually exceed expectations. I recruited some fellow freshman at KU to fill in the labor gaps. Rod improved and grew his fireworks for the next 23 years. Even though Rod passed away in March of 2020, I have continued the family fireworks business to honor Rod and add to the Karlin family legacy.
My Dad’s unexpected passing in March of 2020 was shocking…and I just couldn’t let his fireworks business die along with him. I managed it for the very first few seasons when I was at KU, watched him grow it over the last 20 years after I left Midwest Fireworks, to grow my own ALL-N-1-Landscape business in Lawrence. I fully understood how much he invested into his fireworks business…it was his baby that he nurtured for 23 years. When he passed so suddenly last Spring, everyone was grieving his loss and dealing with Covid and so nobody wanted to carry on the annual fireworks business and the tradition he started in 1996. I wanted to take care of his business for at least one more season, and continue his tradition to honor him and keep his legacy alive.
I am an entrepreneur because of my Dad, who encouraged me to start a lawn mowing business when I was 11 years old. I grew that into ALL-N-1-Landscape in Lawrence, which I sold in 2014. A business takes about 7 years of sustained investment to get over the hump, but even after a business becomes stable, it is not something you can just turn off and turn back on whenever it becomes more convenient to operate again. You must continue investing in a business or it dies…and I felt that my Dad would want his business to carry on after his passing, so I did continue it with the help of the staff he developed.
Last July, this team helped me take his fireworks business to new heights, and surpass all expectations. After the season was over, we found an informal will he scribbled onto a napkin and signed…and he left me his fireworks business. I was a little shocked and totally honored, but it confirmed my intuition was correct, that he did want me to carry on his tradition and fireworks business. Once this was confirmed, I felt even more inspired and determined to honor my Dad by growing the fireworks business, to its full potential. I saw that his fireworks business reignited his passion to live, regain his pride, self respect and dignity. My Dad taught me to “bet on yourself, and to pursue your dreams, and to ignore the naysayers”. I’ve always done this and I’m an entrepreneurial spirit just like my Dad.
Last summer, when I was literally walking in my father’s shoes, and running his fireworks business, I had some realizations, about our turbulent relationship and how some of his “tough love” motivated me and uniquely prepared me for various challenges in life, including taking over his fireworks business. If I wasn’t out mowing lawns when I was young, I was going to be helping my Dad roofing our home, pouring a concrete patio, building a fence or planting trees for free, so my Dad motivated me to stay busy earning my own money. Once I realized my Dad wanted me to take over his fireworks business, I was determined to work to improve it in my final semester of college, finishing up my business degree. This Spring, I took Global Business, Business Strategy, Business Research Methodology, Leading & Managing Change, and a comprehensive Digital Marketing class. I did the assignments for class, but I also was also applying everything I was learning in college, to improve my new fireworks business.
My dad came from a generation of guys who weren’t exactly technically savvy, so we didn’t have an online presence until I took over the company in 2021. I realized another bigger company was using the Midwest Fireworks name and that respective web address, so I basically set out to reinvent the business starting with the name. In my research process, I realized the rich history of the Free State of Kansas, and particularly the anti-slavery stronghold of Lawrence, mirrored the values and ideology of my father, who also believed in freedom, independence, equality, and personal sovereignty. I share these values and ideologies and this is why I went with the name FreeState Fireworks LLC. I was able to obtain the website www.FreeStateFireworks.com and corresponding addresses on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media platforms.
Another thing my Dad taught me was the importance of great customer service. This is something that I have always practiced in my own businesses throughout the last 30 years, and now with FreeState Fireworks. Providing our customers with the best possible customer service is our number one priority. As I reinvent his fireworks business, I’m mainly looking for ways to make the shopping experience better for our customers. For this reason, we are building our website to optimize online ordering at www.FreeStateFireworks.com and we are offering a free and convenient pick up service for all online orders.
Many people are still very concerned about Covid and so we considered that and our response is to offer a convenient Pay & Pickup service so you don’t even have to go inside the tent to get your fireworks. You can now order online early, starting at midnight on June 30th and guarantee your favorite fireworks, and pull up to our dedicated parking spots for online orders, and we will collect your proof of purchase and match it with your pre-packaged fireworks order, and load them into your vehicle hassle free. You don’t even have to leave your vehicle.
Our website also is organized for your convenience and ease of use. You can search by product category or brand name. We show our store location at 3033 Kasold Drive, Lawrence, KS 66047 throughout our website. We are on Google Maps as FreeState Fireworks so you can click on the map and get specific directions from your location to our store (permanent white tent) on the Kasold Curve in Lawrence. We will also make ourselves available to answer any questions or consult you for free by phone, email, or in person.
We want to make sure your American Independence Day celebration is the best it can possibly be! We also plan to be active on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.