ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — Thunder is the only boom you should hear before this Sunday. That's the day firework bans start to lift in the area.

Mishawaka and South Bend Police say they've only gotten a few complaints about early celebrations. They believe they've had fewer problems because fewer people are buying fireworks.

Store mangers say business is not booming. They say gas prices areforcing people to cut back and even limit their trips to firework stores, but they hope a Friday Fourth of July will ignite sales.

Josh Chovaz and his friend were all business. Their trip to St. Joseph County took several hours and several tanks of gas.

"It is going to be one down, one up, which is kind expensive," said Chovaz who made the trip just to buy fireworks. "The Fourth of July is coming up, and we figured why not."

He budgeted $100.

"I am cutting back a little bit," said Chovaz.

He isn't the only one down-sizing his celebration.

"Not too many big, big sales. There's a lot of smaller sales. A little bit of this, a little bit of that," said Christina Fassoth, salesperson at Boom City.

Boom City says sales are down 20 percent, and sales aren't taking off at other stores.

"A big decrease in the amount people are buying. We've had the same number of customers. Nobody is spending the big amounts like they did last year," said Brandon Robertson, manager of World's Cheapest Fireworks.

Last year, the Fourth of July was on Wednesday. This year, it's on Friday. Fireworks store managers hope a weekend full of celebrations will light up sales.

"We are hoping that since it's the weekend and everyone has Saturday off, they are going to come back and buy some more," said Robertson.

"Friday is going to help. Most people get paid on Fridays. They'll come in after they get paid, and they'll spend," said Fassoth.

Chovaz did spend more than he budgeted, so he found a way to save.

"We split it up, so it was really $50 a piece," he said.

Pooling money together is just one way to save money on fireworks. Some stores are offering buy one get one free.

Boom City is offering free fireworks based on how much you spend. World's Cheapest Fireworks has five dollar off coupons in the paper. Many stores will also match competitors prices.