The story

Wednesday, Americans will celebrate Independence Day with picnics, parades and pyrotechnics. And with the population at more than 300 million, there will be a lot of all three.

"The Fourth of July is so hectic, I wear so many hats and we're doing so many things that we don't get to enjoy and love the Fourth of July," says Deborah Neu, CEO of a fireworks display company called Pyro Productions. "That's our peak and that's our time to be safe and work our butts off."

The Alabama company will be putting on fireworks shows throughout the Southeast. They've got 50 July 4 shows this year, "give or take a few," according to Neu. Read full article »