Doug and Donna McAninch were looking for a memorable way to celebrate their daughter Heather’s graduation from Dowling Catholic High School.

Having been to a party several years ago that featured a private fireworks display, Tom Holtz, marketing director at McAninch Corp., suggested that the couple have a professional fireworks display at their rural home.

Heather’s grandparents, Dwayne and Glennis McAninch, had the perfect setting for the fireworks: a rural property with a lake. Holtz arranged the show through J&M Displays Inc., a professional pyrotechnics company located northeast of Mount Pleasant.

There were plenty of “oohs and aahs” from the crowd of 200 at the McAninch party, Holtz said. “They shot over the lake and it was just beautiful. I was just very happy about it.”

If you know the right people with the right situation in the country, you may be lucky enough to be invited to a private fireworks display. Then again, you might just decide to arrange one of your own.

Holtz, who had never arranged such a private display before, said he came up with the idea after having been to a party that had one several years ago.

“The environment we were going to [have the party at] was ideal. And it was something different for people to look forward to,” he said, noting that the family carried over the theme by printing a starburst pattern on the invitations and decorations. “It’s a great added attraction if you’ve got the place for it.”

Though the bulk of the fireworks business is still dedicated to conducting public displays, more and more individuals and companies are arranging for private shows, said Mark Johnson, vice president of J&M Displays. Based in Yarmouth, J&M handles most of the community fireworks displays in Iowa and is among the top 10 companies in the industry.

“There’s definitely a trend there,” Johnson said. “We are seeing more and more people using fireworks for private shows.” Additionally, “more and more people are getting training and shooting off the fireworks themselves,” he said.

The private shows they arrange tend to be larger than those J&M puts on for many rural Iowa towns, which average between $2,000 and $3,500 in cost, Johnson said.

“It’s not unusual to see a $10,000, $20,000 show for a wedding,” he said, but that also covers all the labor in shooting the fireworks and the cost of transporting J&M’s technicians and equipment to the event.

The company can design special effects that tie in with the theme of the event, such as two interlocking rings for a wedding or happy faces for a birthday party.

“For some customers we actually have their logo that goes up and shoots in the air,” Johnson said.

One rural Dallas County resident has shot his own Independence Day displays for about the past eight years at his home, after teaching himself how to handle the professional pyrotechnics. He’s occasionally done displays on New Year’s Eve as well.

His guests “always look forward to it,” said the retiree, who asked that his name not be disclosed for privacy reasons. “We have some people who tell us it’s better than their local displays. We have people drive by, too, so everybody enjoys it.”

Having seen his displays, two of his neighbors now also shoot professional fireworks as well, he said.

In addition to getting a permit from the Dallas County Board of Supervisors and the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, he had to secure a permit from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which must be renewed each three years to remain active.

Rather than choosing his displays, the retiree said he depends on J&M to “send me new stuff every year.” He estimates he spends about $1,000 a year on the fireworks.

“They’ve got one of the better product lines out there,” he said. “They know what’s new and what’s pretty. I leave it up to their discretion for a lot of stuff.”

Holtz said he was glad to find a company that would assume all the risk for the display and handle all of the required insurance, permits and legwork.

“It was reasonable for what we got,” he said. “It’s a lot of work – they got out there probably at 10 in the morning with a crew of five people working on it. I went out there the next day and it was completely cleaned up. I would highly recommend that company, if you want to do one.”

For those thinking about booking for a private display on the Fourth of July, you’ll probably want to do so at least a year in advance, Johnson said. “But if you get off that date, it’s much easier,” he said. “We usually like to have a minimum of a month or so. It just makes it a lot easier.”

For more information about setting up a private fireworks display, visit the J&M Displays Web site at www.jandmdisplays.com, or call (800) 648-3890.