Elliott's Jurassic Fireworks sits off Interstate 25 outside of Cheyenne, around three miles from the Colorado border. Fireworks that explode or leave the ground are illegal in the Centennial State, so, as at many Wyoming fireworks shops, a large portion of Jurassic's sales are made to customers from Colorado looking to smuggle the festive contraband back home. But Elliott says his status as a Coloradan has led the county to go after his business.
In April, Laramie County commissioners denied the operating permit for Jurassic Fireworks after it had been in business for five years. They also rejected permits for Artillery World Fireworks, which opened down the road from Jurassic in 2022. Both stores are run by Elliott and owned by his daughter, Breanna.
"I don’t think these are the kind of people that I want doing business in Laramie County," Commissioner Buck Holmes said during the April 16 vote. That's a sentiment commissioners have expressed regarding Elliott before. At an April 2022 meeting, Holmes told him: "You want to come to Laramie County and be a jerk, go back to Colorado."
Elliott says he's being discriminated against because of his home state, and that the hateful comments about Colorado from county officials go back decades. He thinks the commissioners are colluding with his neighbor and rival, Phantom Fireworks, to run him out of Wyoming.
"My daughter is scared they're going to kill one of us," Elliott says, explaining why he runs the stores on her behalf. “These guys have done everything to destroy us. ... How far does this extend, this hate? Are we going to end up buried in a field somewhere?"
Elliott's adversaries, however, insist the conflict is more about the "being a jerk" part than the "go back to Colorado" part.
Commissioners have accused Elliott of threatening and trying to intimidate them over their opposition to his business. Phantom Fireworks says that Elliott's guerrilla marketing practices approach harassment and have driven their employees to quit. One of the more fiery (and unsubstantiated) rumors suggests that Elliott tried to hire someone to burn down their building.
"I will not allow somebody to come into our community and act in that way," Commissioner Gunnar Malm said on May 7 during the board's most recent meeting on the topic. "It’s not simply a Colorado-versus-Wyoming thing.”
Elliott denies almost all of the allegations hurled at him, admitting only to using strong-arm advertising practices that the county and his competition don't enjoy. But even his most objectionable behavior has been legal, he argues, adding that the county shouldn't be able to punish his business just because they don't like him.
The final decision now falls to Wyoming's First Judicial District Court. Elliott's daughter filed a petition for review, asking the court to reverse the board's permit denials. The court issued a preliminary injunction on May 31, allowing the Elliotts to continue operating their fireworks businesses as they await a ruling, which ensures that the stores will be open for the busy Fourth of July season.
"We're Rosa Parks. And we're staying on the bus," Elliott says of the ongoing legal battle. "Whatever it takes to clear our names."
Border Wars
Colorado and Wyoming butt heads on numerous issues, from wolf reintroductions to sports rivalries. Laramie County even took a shot at Denver in May, erecting a controversial billboard in the Mile High City to recruit employees for its sheriff's office with the phrase "Work in Wyoming, where breaking the law is still illegal & cops are funded!"Despite the bad blood, Wyoming's lax fireworks laws have long enticed Coloradans to cross the border. In Denver, the use and possession of all fireworks — even sparklers — is illegal year-round, and the rest of Colorado is under laws almost as strict. Meanwhile, Laramie County allows the sale of consumer fireworks to anyone who is at least sixteen years old.
Elliott, a Denver native, first started business in Wyoming with a fireworks stand in the late 1990s, and he says there was tension even then.
"Back then, they would basically tell us to go to hell. 'Go back to Colorado, we don't like you, we don't like where you come from, get the hell out of Wyoming,'" Elliott recalls. "Being from Colorado is not welcome there. They call us 'greenies' because of our license plates. You don’t want to be from Colorado and be in Laramie County. ... But they sure love the Colorado money.”
After he was bought out in the early 2000s, Elliott focused on running (legal) fireworks tents and Christmas tree lots throughout Colorado. He says that when he returned to Laramie County to open Jurassic Fireworks with his daughter in 2018, he felt like the county was trying to block their application, accusing them of providing incorrect or inconsistent information about the application and holding them to different standards regarding issues like storage and building regulations.
But the commissioners lay the blame on Elliott. During a meeting on June 5, 2018, then-Commissioner Amber Ash said an unnamed "gentleman" with Jurassic had caused "a lot of trouble in terms of anger issues and walking out of meetings."
Friction led to two postponements and one rejection. By the time the application was finally withdrawn on June 19, 2018, Commissioner Troy Thompson — who'd advocated for Jurassic in earlier meetings — accused Jurassic leadership of mistreating the county staff, referencing "nasty, threatening emails" and "demeaning" treatment from the applicant.
When the Elliotts applied again the next year, they faced more opposition. This time, from their future neighbor and rival: Phantom Fireworks.
Two representatives of Phantom testified against Jurassic being granted an operating permit in 2019, criticizing Jurassic because its building lacked a fire suppression system, though the system was not legally required.
“What we have is a novice in the sale and management of fireworks stores. That’s a concern," Alex Davison, an attorney for Phantom Fireworks, said during his testimony on June 4, 2019. "Anything that any of us do in the [fireworks] business that creates concern or a problem could very easily end up reflecting on everyone in the business."
Despite the testimony, commissioners unanimously approved the permit, launching what became Jurassic's tumultuous run in Laramie County.
Bring Out the Bullhorns
On most summer days, customers can find Elliott standing outside of Artillery World Fireworks, waving a flag from the edge of the parking lot and shouting over a bullhorn about the store's latest deals, trying to entice passersby to choose Artillery World over three competing fireworks businesses nearby.Before the permit battle began, a pre-recorded message of Elliott's voice also blared over loudspeakers on a loop: "Go anywhere but Phantom," "Don't support liars, thieves and crooks," "They got caught ripping off the Colorado consumers." The message directed people to phantomfireworkscams.com, a website Elliott created that accuses Phantom Fireworks of misleading sales pricing.
Elliott says that Phantom's testimony against Jurassic's permit application and a conflict about signage led him to look into that company and eventually launch phantomfireworkscams.com. (Phantom tried to have the website removed in 2021, but its domain complaint was denied.) During his research, Elliott spoke to Phantom workers on the phone, anonymously inquiring about their sales practices. One employee told Elliott to avoid Jurassic Fireworks, calling the man who runs it — Elliott himself — "shady."
"He actually tried to pay somebody $10,000 to burn down our building once," the employee said. (Westword reviewed the recording but could not confirm its authenticity.) "He sexually harassed a bunch of our female employees; he had people sneaking into our store and breaking product; again, he tried to have the store set on fire. ... He’s just not a good person."
Elliott says these kinds of rumors spread by Phantom employees inspired him to step up his bullhorn activity from simply advertising his store to full-on "attack mode."
“There’s no proof. There's nothing," Elliott says of the allegations against him. "In 2020, when we started getting those ugly recordings, that's when we started defending ourselves."
While there are no records of reports regarding attempted arson for hire, Petra Goldberg, manager of Phantom's Cheyenne store, reported other accusations to Laramie County commissioners. In one report from July 2021 in which Elliott was not named, Goldberg claimed that Jurassic employees harassed young female Phantom employees to the point that the Phantom workers needed to be escorted to their cars.
This spring, Goldberg told commissioners that she once caught a man damaging her merchandise and ripping off price tags; she said that the man told her he'd been hired to do so, but did not say who had hired him. She also said that her customers have complained about being verbally accosted while entering Phantom and that Elliott used to shout her name over his bullhorn, asking if she "enjoys working for liars and thieves."
"I’ve had employees not return because their parents expressed concern that they do not feel it is safe for their young teenagers to work in the atmosphere," Goldberg said during the May 7 board meeting. “For the past five years, I have endured constant bombardment. ... Before this time, we never had any issues with our competitors, ever."
Since Jurassic and Artillery World opened, Phantom representatives are the only people to have ever testified against the stores during public hearings.
Goldberg declined to speak for this story, referring a reporter to Phantom's corporate office. Westword's call to that office was not returned.
Harassment, Threats and "Obnoxious Behavior"
Commissioners insist their beef with Elliott has nothing to do with Colorado, pointing out that the other fireworks shops in the area aren't Wyoming-based, either. Phantom is headquartered in Ohio, Pyro City is based in Missouri, and Black Cat's corporate office is in Kansas.The commissioners also say they've received complaints about Elliott's behavior from sources other than Phantom. But files from the county attorney regarding Jurassic Fireworks only include two complaints, one from Goldberg in 2021 and an anonymous noise complaint in 2023, identified only as not from "your competitor." Records from the sheriff's office show two reports from Goldberg — a noise complaint in 2023 and an accusation of vandalism in 2019 — neither of which resulted in any citations or charges for Elliott.
The only report not connected to Phantom involves a 2019 call to the sheriff's office from the owner of a nearby bison ranch, who said that Jurassic employees were standing on a semi-trailer and waving customers toward the store. The employees ultimately agreed to leave without any further action taken, according to the sheriff's office records.
According to Elliott, law enforcement has visited his store "probably twenty times" in response to complaints about the bullhorn or speakers, but he's never received a citation or even a formal warning. "It's freedom of speech," he says.
Since the noise isn't enough, Elliott argues that Phantom is falsely accusing his business of unlawful behavior in order to get the county to shut him down, therefore silencing his criticisms of Phantom.
“The only witnesses are two county commissioners and Phantom, our competitor," Elliott says. "How does a family business even battle something like that?”
Some of the commissioners have been open about their disdain for Jurassic. At the same April 2022 meeting where Holmes suggested that Elliott "go back to Colorado," he also tried to put a condition on Jurassic that would automatically revoke its permits if the sheriff's office received two calls about the store.
Thompson voted against the store's permits in 2022 and 2023, though he was the only commissioner to oppose the applications at the time. When those permits came up again this spring, he told his colleagues that rejecting them would "send a message."
"We've received complaints from surrounding businesses, with bullhorns and just obnoxious behavior disrupting other businesses," Thompson said during the April 16 meeting. "I don’t think these guys are a good community partner. ... We talk every year — 'Please be a better partner, please be a better partner.’ And it just keeps getting worse and worse.”
This time, the other commissioners agreed. At that meeting, the board rejected Jurassic's permit by a vote of 4-1, and Artillery World's permits 3-2.
The rejection came as a shock to Elliott, as many of the specific concerns the commissioners referenced were from years prior — such as the standing-on-a-trailer incident from 2019 and claims that they obstructed traffic in 2021. The store had continued to receive permits annually since those alleged incidents, and there have been no service calls involving Elliott or either of his stores since November 2023, according to the sheriff's records. Elliott's attorneys requested a reconsideration on those grounds.
"You’re addressing a concern that was raised years ago," attorney Bruce Asay said during the May 7 reconsideration meeting. "This past year, we have not had a single citation.”
Thompson called the alleged bad behavior "a pattern," referring to Elliott's continued use of bullhorns and the criticisms against Phantom broadcast over speakers. But Elliott says he'd been repeatedly assured by sheriff's deputies that the bullhorn and speakers violate no laws.
"It can’t be that he’s told by law enforcement that he is acting under the law in these certain situations and then be denied a permit because he thought he was acting under the law," attorney Dion Custis said.
But their arguments paled beside new accusations from a couple of commissioners: that Elliott had threatened them in response to the permit rejections.
Thompson and Commissioner Brian Lovett both received an email from Elliott the day after the April 16 meeting that they said they found to be threatening. During the May 7 meeting, a sheriff's deputy told commissioners the department had opened a criminal investigation into the email, though sheriff's records provided to Westword showed no report involving it.
"My kids are my world, and protecting them comes with no borders, I would be careful when scolding someone's daughter while threatening to destroy her business, they may not be as forgiving as I am," reads a portion of Elliott's email. "I say this with the strength I trust in my faith, because the sick things that run through my head that no one should ever be subjected to only can be contributed due to the pain other humans can cause."
Elliott denies that the email was a threat. But at the reconsideration meeting, Holmes also claimed that Elliott "attempted to intimidate" him in person last year while he was driving around Elliott's store. Elliott says he just approached Holmes's car and asked if he needed help, and provided a brief video recording of the end of the interaction, which shows the men wishing each other a good day as Holmes drives away.
The commissioners unanimously voted against reconsidering the rejections.
The Fourth and Beyond
Jurassic Fireworks and Artillery World were up and running again less than two months after the permits were denied, thanks to the court-issued preliminary injunction. But the long-term future of the businesses is uncertain.The preliminary injunction allows Jurassic and Artillery World to continue operating for the rest of the calendar year or until the court decides on whether to reverse the permit denials — whichever comes first. Until then, they must adhere to certain limitations, including not harassing other fireworks businesses, not going into the right-of-way to direct customers, and not playing bullhorns or speakers louder than 80 decibels (police sirens are around 120 decibels).
"It is difficult to estimate when any final decision on either of the matters might be produced," says Laramie County Attorney Mark Voss. "The county’s position is that the decision denying the permits was in accord with law and should be sustained."
Elliott is hopeful that the court will rule in his favor, but such a ruling wouldn't ease his concerns: The board of commissioners must approve operating permits for the fireworks businesses every year. He says the two stores lost around $300,000 because of the pause in operations, and that his family suffered emotional trauma.
"I'm worried about everything up here," Elliott says. "I'm worried about someone shooting one of us."
As the Fourth of July approaches, business has returned to normal levels. Elliott says he intends to put the money the stores earn this year toward raising "awareness” about the county government, following races for local office and advocating for term limits for elected officials.
“Something good has got to come of this," he says. "We'll see where it goes with the county. And we will be pursuing Phantom after this."
In the meantime, the explosive conflict has quieted while the parties await the court ruling...except for the bullhorns still booming outside of Artillery World.
