CABOT, Ark. — Browsing a fireworks shop reveals products that seem aptly named for 2020.
There's "Super Annoying," "Bombs Away," "Reeking Havoc" and "One Bad Mother."
With that in mind, the mayor of Cabot worked with police and fire officials to lift the ban on fireworks for New Year's Eve to allow people to symbolically blow away what has been a rotten year for many.
"Kind of saying 'Welcome 2021, Goodbye 2020,'" Mayor Ken Kincade said. "I just saw something that said 78% of the people thought 2020 just stunk. Just a really bad year."
Kincade and other local officials experimented with a limited window to light the night last Fourth of July.
It proved popular and safe, so they figured New Year's Eve would be a perfect time to bring it back again.
"We thought, too, that COVID is still going on around us," he said. "People are limited to their travel plans. They can't go many places. So what we thought was they did so well July 4th, let's do it again."
So light 'em if you got 'em, Cabot.
You've got until 12:30 in the morning.
Other fireworks laws and advice still apply, and the mayor is stressing this is not an excuse to get everybody together for a blast after the bars close early.
"I feel like everybody's going to abide by the law, and if they do shoot it, they'll be home with their families," Kincade said.
Other cities will still be enforcing fireworks bans, including Little Rock which sets up a special email address to field reports.
Kincade wants to lighten the load for his police too, but he thinks this was is more realistic.
"You know as well as I do, a lot of people are going to shoot fireworks anyway, or shoot guns outside or something this time of the year," he said. "I just feel like our citizens are going to obey and be respectful of people's properties and not break the law and do what's right."