JULIAN — Fifteen years ago, Matt and Mary Hall started their own fireworks display in the fields surrounding their Beaver Road home in Julian.
What started off as a humble affair with maybe 50 people, a “boom box” and Matt and Mary setting off fireworks in their fields, has grown into a community-wide celebration, with a D.J., concession stands and a whole lot of fun at the annual Hall’s Fireworks Celebration on July 3.
“It started out as a family picnic, and it just kept getting bigger and bigger and we just decided one night that we were going to get our federal license and that was that. We started with 50 people, then a couple hundred people and then a thousand people and now it is huge,” Matt said of the event that brings people in the community together so much so that he also calls it the “Julian Block Party.”
The fireworks go off at dark, but the party starts at 4 p.m. when the gates open. At $10 per carload, family and friends drive in together and fill up the fields, creating a tailgate-like setting, Matt said.
Walk-in tickets cost $2. Matt highly recommends carpooling so more people can attend.
“If you have ever been here, or ever come here, you’ll see the fireworks are the last thing,” he said. “Everyone comes here and tailgates. Everybody brings grills and I have a whole line of food vendors and a live DJ and everything else. The whole night, people are setting up playing cornhole, horseshoes and it is just like tailgating at a football game.”
Fireworks prices have skyrocketed this year, due to impacts from the pandemic, but that is not taking anything away from the show the Halls plan to put on, which includes more than 2,000 shells.
“If anything, we have a surprise in store this year,” Matt said. “We have a second display. Halfway through the show there will be a second display at the same time.”
Looking back at 15 years of fireworks shows, the Halls said they just couldn’t believe how much it has grown and impacted their lives.
All the friends they have made along the way and support they have received from the community is especially evident as Matt continues to struggle with health issues as the big day approaches.
“Every year more and more people call and say, ‘Do you need help?’ When they heard that Matt was sick, you couldn’t believe the people who called and offered. It is amazing,” Mary said.
“The phone has been ringing off the hook,” Matt added.
Luckily, he has a crew of helpers to assist, running around like “ants working” to safely pull off the show.
“It is a family thing. Me and Mary got licensed, but now I got a whole crew who help — my son and his wife, and a bunch of the kids he grew up with are under me now, so I got a whole crew,” Matt said.
Hall’s Fireworks gives back to the community, producing fireworks displays for other events at no cost, except for the cost of the fireworks.
After the success of the fireworks show, the couple opened a sandwich stand eight years ago on their property and last July they expanded to include a sit down restaurant right on the property. Matt said people come from all over for their food, but he had to close recently due to his health issues.
They hope to be back at it soon, but he said nothing could get him to not do the fireworks show this year.
Across the field of the property and displayed prominently, the Halls fly an American flag.
“People look for that and when they see that going up in May they know the fireworks are coming,” Matt said.
This story appears in the July 1-7, 2021 edition of The Centre County Gazette.
