Garden State Fireworks
American pyrotechnics company

Garden State Fireworks is a pyrotechnics company based in the Millington section of Long Hill Township, Morris County, New Jersey, United States. It was founded in 1890 and has been owned by the same family for four generations. It is one of the largest fireworks manufacturers in the United States.
History
The company was founded in 1890 by Augustine Santore, a recent immigrant from Italy, where he had learned the trade of manufacturing fireworks. His sons and grandsons ("the Santore Brothers") continue to own and operate the company.
The company has produced some notable fireworks shows, including those for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and the New Year's Eve celebration in New York's Times Square. The Santores co-produced (with three other families) the fireworks display for the "Liberty Weekend" centennial celebration of the Statue of Liberty on July 4, 1986, which is the largest fireworks show in United States history, and at the time was the largest fireworks show ever produced.
In 1997 the company hosted and produced an International Fireworks Competition at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. There were displays from a different country each day for five days, followed by a non-competitive display by Garden State. Competitors came from China, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Garden State Fireworks” is american pyrotechnics company. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Garden, State and Fireworks, not as a finished interpretation.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5522318. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1890, 1988, 1986 and 1997.
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This entry incorporates text from “Garden State Fireworks” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.