Pulled apart by storms, KC-area fireworks stand is rebuilding: ‘20 seconds of pure hell’

Several customers were shopping in Dishonest Don’s fireworks tent Tuesday night when Stephanie Eckard hollered for everyone to grab a pole.

“I looked out there and I saw the trees just folded over. And then just after that, a burst of wind got me and threw me under the table,” Gail Pieske said.

Eckard said she was at the fifth pole and was thrown to the fourth. Her husband and owner of Dishonest Don’s, Kurt Eckard, was thrown from the second pole across the asphalt.

The pole Stephanie Eckard was standing at fell, hitting her and another person on the other side of the tent.

“It was 20 seconds of pure hell,” Pieseke said.

The fireworks tent in Riverside on Vivion Road was torn to shreds by what’s being described as a microburst during Tuesday night’s storm.

Stephanie Eckard and Kurt Eckard have been in business for 44 years, and said they had never experienced something quite like it. Several people, including Stephanie Eckard, were injured, though none were serious.

“(The storm) was coming in quick. Usually (the tent) breathes on its own with the flaps down and it’ll sway and whatever. It’s really tightly knitted down,” she said. “ Every strap is very meticulously done. It just gave way. When the microburst hit, there wasn’t anything we could do.”

Luckily, most of the fireworks were saved, Eckard said.

“I’m glad I took the brunt of it over there. I couldn’t live with myself if (anyone else) got hurt,” Stephanie Eckard said.

‘Owe it to the town’

She said around 80 people from other fireworks tents and the broader community came throughout the night to help with cleanup. Additional residents gathered Wednesday morning. A team of 12 men, women and children helped raise one of the poles in the middle of the tent, reconnecting the rebar. Two sat in a raised Bobcat shovel to tie the pole to the tarp.

“Other (firework tent owners) brought their help up and they all worked, and their lights and everything, extra stuff that we need to help get us opened up and, which is very amazing,” Stephanie Eckard said. “The community between the tents is a phenomenal one.”

Riverside is Kurt Eckard’s hometown,so reopening business as soon as possible is important to him. Each year, he and the employees light a huge fireworks display as a gift to the town. Last year, the show was nearly 2 hours long.

“It hasn’t hit me… There was no thought to quit. We owe it to every one of (the employees). We owe it to the town… We gotta open,” she said.

Dishonest Don’s reopened Wednesday afternoon after an inspection was completed. They are open 24 hours and may remain open Friday, depending on inventory.