SWATARA TWP -- For almost 20 years, Rick Breski's fireworks tent has been something of a staple in the Harrisburg area. Every Fourth of July Breski and his friends would set up the tent in the parking lot of Leeds Restaurant on Eisenhower Boulevard, replete with a wide selection of fountains, sparklers, and other fireworks for Pennsylvanians to celebrate the holiday.

And every year, someone would stop by asking for "the good stuff," Breski said with a laugh. Now for the first time, Breski and company are setting up for New Year's Eve and, thanks to a recent change in state law -- his tent is filled with the good stuff.

"People have been waiting for a long time," he said Monday. "There's been a lot of people just stopping in ... they couldn't believe it was true."

Breski himself didn't seem to entirely believe it could be true either, at least not initially. When the law changed at the end of October, he was among the first in the door at the state Department of Agriculture (the state agency that licenses fireworks sales in Pennsylvania) to get a new expanded license. His license proudly bears the license number T-1 -- the first tent sale license issued in the state.

Breski and other retailers are expecting many Pennsylvanians to take advantage of the change in state law just in time for New Year's Eve (the holiday is the second largest for fireworks sales nationwide after the Fourth of July).

Given the weather, he said his selection focuses on "grand finales," or the biggest booms firework makers offer -- "people won't want to be outside for four hours watching fireworks in the cold," he said with a chuckle.

An hour away near Lancaster, Brian Shaub, an owner of the Keystone Fireworks store there said the store has been "inundated with calls" of people also asking if the new law is true.

"We've been working on this for years," Shaub said. "We're so excited."

For years Shaub has been in a somewhat strange position -- operating a retail store that couldn't sell its full range of goods to local customers, or at least those who didn't have a permit.

"We've hated turning them away," he said.

In the run-up to New Years the store is operating on extended hours (open until 11 p.m. daily) and business, he said, has been brisk.

The change in state law was folded into this year's state budget and were part of a slate of changes to state laws to generate revenue to cover the state's operating expenses.

Pennsylvania's move to expand consumer fireworks laws sets a new tax of 12 percent, in addition to the sales and use tax already imposed (for a total sales tax of 18 percent). The law budgets 2 percent of consumer fireworks taxes, up to $2 million a year, for emergency medical service grants and volunteer firefighter training.

There are a few stipulations to the new law. Pennsylvanians must be 18 in order to purchase newly approved fireworks, they can only be set off on private property, and must been at least 150 feet from occupied structures -- so probably not in a city or suburban neighborhood.

Breski is also urging people to use what he coined "common sense and common decency" -- read the instructions included on the packaging, and let your neighbors know before you set off any of newly legal devices.

"Just talk to your neighbors," he said. "It goes a long way."