Mike Gerson started his fireworks career as a part time crew member before obtaining his operators’ license about 10 years ago. Since then he has shot shows all over California as a licensed operator. At some point during that time he met a guy named Tommy who invited Mike to build shells at a WPA event called Do-It. Mike was immediately hooked on manufacturing and joined the WPA to build fireworks at every event he could attend. A few years later Mike caught wind of the fact Harry Gilliam of Skylighter was closing up shop and liquidating the inventory. Would all that wonderful free information about projects and all those handy charts and tables be lost forever? Since Mike had not had a real job in about 10 years (and being basically unemployable) it occurred to him that “Maybe I could be the guy to carry the Skylighter torch for Harry.” After a flurry of emails and texts they struck a deal and now it’s Mike’s problem. Since that time he has updated the Skylighter website and restocked the popular kits and chemicals. Regarding the fireworking community in general, Mike is certain that he has found his people and now owning Skylighter he is “living the dream.”