Clint Rice has been running a firework stand in Seeley Lake for over 30 years. Once Pyromania, the now named Boom Shack is open for business.
Clint Rice was in Washington on Friday picking up fireworks for a stand he's been running in Seeley Lake since 1990.
For over 30 years, Rice has been coming up to Seeley Lake in the summers to run the firework stand, formerly called Pyromania and rebranded as the Boom Shack. He opened the shop for New Years sales in 2000. Most recently, Rice relocated to Seeley Lake to live full-time as of September.
While in high school in Arlee, Montana, Rice worked for a firework stand and then for a company that supplied the stand in Arlee with fireworks. While working for that company, he was looking for places to expand sales to and heard about Seeley Lake's stand from the owner of Kurt's Polaris. Rice ended up buying the stand and transitioned to buying the fireworks more directly.
Rice said Seeley's a special place on the Fourth of July. He ends up seeing many of the same faces year after year and enjoys the brief interactions.
"We may only get to visit for 30 minutes a year but it's something I look forward to and when I get ready to retire I will miss that," Rice said.
Zoey Matheny has been helping Rice at the firework stand for about seven years, and he promised Matheny when he does retire, the shop will be hers. Matheny travels up to Seeley Lake for the Fourth of July from Connecticut.
The Boom Shack will be open from June 24-July 5 from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m.
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