Stanley Youth Invents A Firework
Hugh Jackson is the son of Jay and Kier Jackson. Their family founded A Plus Fireworks in 2023 when oldest daughter, Dakota Jackson approached her parents and asked them to help her sell fireworks as a means to fund her college education. They sold fireworks out of a wedding tent in the Old Stanley Lumberyard parking lot for the last two years. With the use of the lumberyard building being changed to a private institution, the Jacksons began looking for an alternate location to continue in fireworks sales. They were able to purchase the land between O’Reilly’s Auto-parts and Ace Hardware on Westview Lane and have put up a building to sell fireworks out of. Dakota Jackson has since graduated from Utah State University with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and now the family is selling fireworks to fund Max and Laney’s college education. Jay and Kier Jackson are the parents of seven children and have lived in Stanley for the last fifteen years.
In the second year of sales, Hugh Jackson told his parents that they needed to find a hunting-themed firework to sell. He had a very specific idea in mind of what the label should look like and what the firework effects should be. While he was attending a fireworks vendor demonstration in Fargo he settled on a 200 gram firework cake that had all comet-tails in it. He loved that firework and thought it would be a good seller. He talked to the distributor and told them he wanted to re-label it under the name “Trophy Buck”. He presented them with graphics he had found online of a deer with an American Flag behind it. The manufacturer granted permission to A Plus Fireworks to re-label a limited supply of the firework for the 2024 season. When the sales season was over, they determined that it was the number one best selling firework across all of their locations. Hugh and his parents reported back to the fireworks manufacturer and they asked Hugh if he would be willing to give them his label so they could mass produce the item. Hugh was able to follow the production of his firework and received updates from the vendor when the container of “Trophy Buck” hit the water to come to America. A Plus Fireworks is very excited to have this firework for sale this year in all of their locations. You will also be able to find “Trophy Buck”, the firework invented in Stanley, in other fireworks stores in the North Dakota region and not just exclusively at A Plus Fireworks. Hugh’s mom says he should go to college and major in marketing.
The most common question the Jacksons get asked about their new location is: “Why did you build your shop so far back on the lot?” The answer, because they hope to use the new building as a warehouse and store for now and in the future, they will put up a beautiful store on the front of the lot. Time was very limited this construction season to get a structure ready for the June 27th opening day so they will be selling out of the warehouse until a proper store is constructed. The Jacksons will have their Stanley permanent location this year along with temporary stands in tents in Tioga, New Town and Minot. They hope the Stanley location will offer a large enough variety of fireworks that people will travel to Stanley to shop for their celebration. Fireworks sales begin on Friday, June 27 and close on Saturday, July 5, 2025.