Spinning boxes, fiery sights: See The Bee’s picks for July 4th fireworks in Sacramento
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included incorrect photo captions that misidentified the manufacturers of several fireworks products. The captions below have been corrected.
Fourth of July fireworks will go on sale around the capital region Saturday, and The Sacramento Bee is here to help you make the smartest — and safest — picks for the annual patriotic, pyrotechnic spending spree.
Earlier this month, the newspaper’s 2025 summer interns looked ahead to the next federal holiday, gathering at the Sacramento Fire Department’s Station 19 in Point West for a preview of some of the region’s legally available fireworks.
California maintains strict firework regulations to minimize the dangerous blazes that can be set off by Independence Day celebrations. The state fire marshal marks approved pyrotechnic products, which do not explode high in the air, as “safe and sane.”
Governments around the capital region, including the city of Sacramento, are cracking down on illegal fireworks with substantial fines for possessing them. Parts of Placer, El Dorado and Yolo counties ban fireworks at home altogether. In Sacramento County, firework sales begin at noon Saturday and mostly last until 9 p.m. on July 4.
Ten Bee interns watched 22 firework displays — each sold by the retailers Phantom Fireworks, TNT Fireworks or Discount Fireworks Superstore, which TNT owns in the California market. The companies provided the products, and Aaron Crawford, an area manager for TNT, lit them in the fire station parking lot under firefighters’ supervision.
Taking careful notes from a safe distance, we rated each product on a scale from 0 to 10, then averaged each one’s scores to produce the definitive rankings. Here are our top three picks, plus three more distinctive firework packages that deserve recognition.
First place: Radioactive Spark
Average rating: 9/10. Sold by Phantom Fireworks for $99.99, with a buy one, get one free deal.
After warming up for about 40 seconds, this firework box emits a bright red plume while gyrating and spraying sparks from three horizontal streams. One intern likened it to a tornado, but it also evokes the blur of a spinning top.
Step back after lighting the Radioactive Spark and make sure no one is too close to the box — but don’t spoil the experience (for those who haven’t read this article) by telling them why.
This year’s top pick, like two other firework packages highlighted below, will set you back nearly a Benjamin. But nothing, the ten reviewers concluded, beats a surprise.
Second place: Opening Show
Average rating: 8.9/10. Sold by TNT Fireworks for $99.99.
Opening Show starts humbly, with orange flashes and light crackles. By the end, it delivers scale — what several interns agreed was the biggest eruption of any product in the review, in terms of the sheer space its sparks fill.
One colleague called it a “stupendously big boom,” while another pointed out that the build-up to the finale “went on for quite a while, much like the Revolutionary War.”
The signature TNT product has been a dependable favorite in The Bee’s firework review over the years, winning in both 2017 and 2019 and tying for second place last year. And while it excels in volume, it does not lack for fine details, either: Amid the biggest explosion, thin streams of light spring from the rim of the cylindrical box.
Third place: American Revolution
Average rating: 8.7/10. Sold by TNT Fireworks for $59.99.
This firework box, another spinner, is the most obviously patriotic of the bunch. That’s largely because it features the red, white and blue, whereas many products discharged red and green sparks befitting Christmas.
Aaron Crawford, the TNT area manager who helped design the new American Revolution product, explained that blue sparks require cobalt, which is especially expensive. What would you pay to match the Stars and Stripes?
“It spins! It sprays! A magic teacup ride that dances,” one intern wrote about the revolutionary spectacle.
A gardener’s dream: Flower Pot Fountain
Average rating: 8.3/10. Ranking: tied for 4th of 22. Sold by Phantom Fireworks for $39.99, with a buy one, get one free deal.
Some fireworks transcend the standard pops and booms to imitate a non-fiery object. At the top of that class is the Flower Pot Fountain, which sends leaf- or flower-like clusters of sparks sprouting in different directions. (One Bee reviewer, not knowing the floral conceit, said the delicate firework spurts had an “almost soft, feathery look.”)
The fountain takes on various colors, including green and purple, as if magically cycling through new kinds of flowers in the same pot.
Ideal for anyone with sensitive ears, this product opens with a growling sound — a “statement of intent,” one intern wrote, distinguishing it from the rest — and stays relatively quiet.
A trip to the zoo: Peacock Tail Fountain
Average rating: 7.7/10. Ranking: 7th of 22. Sold by Phantom Fireworks for $99.99, with a buy one, get one free deal.
If you prefer fauna to flora, consider the Peacock Tail Fountain. Three — and then five — pyrotechnic jets resembling a peacock’s tail feathers issue from a box with two semicircular sides.
“The shape of this firework set it apart from others,” one intern wrote. Squint on Independence Day, and the arc of illuminated air might just look like an upside-down bunting flag.
The display grows increasingly advanced and climaxes in a bright yellow finale, which is advertised by Phantom as a “titanium crackle.”
Bang for your buck: Retro
Average rating: 7.1/10. Ranking: 9th of 22. Sold by Discount Fireworks Superstore for $36.12.
As its name suggests, Retro fulfills all of the classic demands for a firework display: It sends sparks flying far and wide — a “big blast radius,” as one intern put it, reminiscent of the No. 2 pick Opening Show. It sounds like a torrential downpour. It lights up the sky.
Retro is not the cheapest option among the reviewed fireworks — that would be TNT’s Tiny Titan box — but at a less-than-premium cost it offers a premium experience rated higher than four pricier boxes.
Perhaps the clearest sign of its worth? One intern watching it only wrote, “Frankly, too much for me.”
Special thanks to Capt. Justin Sylvia and the crew at Sacramento Fire Station 19; Amy Freeman from Phantom Fireworks; Dennis Revell, John Castilone and Aaron Crawford from TNT Fireworks.
This story was originally published June 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM.