Tulalip Boom City opens for fireworks season

Flaming Arrow stand owner Mike Dunn is ready for the 2015 Boom City Fireworks season. Photo/ Tulalip News, Brandi N. Montreuil
Flaming Arrow stand owner Mike Dunn is ready for the 2015 Boom City Fireworks season.
Photo/ Tulalip News, Brandi N. Montreuil

By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News

TULALIP- Fireworks stands and distributors have taken up temporary residence in the lot behind the Tulalip Resort Casino, which means that fireworks season is upon us and Boom City  is officially open for business.

This season boasts 139 fireworks stands, 11 concession stands and 3 arts and crafts vendors. That is 12 more firework stands than last year.

Despite the recent debate on a firework ban in neighboring Marysville, stand owners expect a bountiful season. Many stand owners are fully stocked and ready to barter prices on the first day.

Photo/ Tulalip News, Brandi N. Montreuil
Photo/ Tulalip News, Brandi N. Montreuil

According to Washington state law it is illegal to discharge illegal fireworks, however, this does not include the reservation, which is subject to Tulalip and federal firework laws. This allows stand owners to sell fireworks prohibited by Washington state laws. To compensate buyers, Boom City provides a lighting area where fireworks banned off-reservation can be discharged in safety.

In Marysville residents are limited to discharging legal fireworks on July 4 from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. only.

Josh Fryberg who co-owns the 'Josh-n-Rocks One Stop Shop with Rocky Harrison hasn't missed a season since he started as a youth. Photo/ Tulalip News, Brandi N. Montreuil
Josh Fryberg who co-owns the ‘Josh-n-Rocks One Stop Shop with Rocky Harrison hasn’t missed a season since he started as a youth.
Photo/ Tulalip News, Brandi N. Montreuil

Safety is top priority for the Boom City Committee which is responsible for the organization and compliance of stand owners. To ensure safety of stand owners and visitors, security personal are on-site throughout the selling season. Tulalip Police Department also maintains an active presence with K9 units and foot patrols to discourage illegal activity.

Boom City will close late evening on July 4. Hours of operation are 6 a.m. to midnight. The lighting area is open all hours of operation except when a memorial show  or demo show is scheduled.

For more information please visit the Boom City Facebook Page.

 

Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com

Jared Parks co-owner of 'Crazy Deals vs High Times' plans to amp up his fireworks season by including technology to market his products. Photo/ Tulalip News, Brandi N. Montreuil
Jared Parks co-owner of ‘Crazy Deals vs High Times’ plans to amp up his fireworks season by including technology to market his products.
Photo/ Tulalip News, Brandi N. Montreuil

 

Lanterns of hope

Tulalip tribal members and Marysville Pilchuck High School alumni releases lanterns for the victims of the Oct. 24 Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Nearly 100 community members  released 400 lanterns during the vigil. (Photo/ Natosha Gobin)
Tulalip tribal members and Marysville Pilchuck High School alumni releases lanterns for the victims of the Oct. 24 Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Nearly 100 community members released 400 lanterns during the vigil. (Photo/ Natosha Gobin)

Tulalip community fills the evening sky with prayers for MP victims

By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News

TULALIP – Nearly 100 supporters in the Tulalip community, along with Marysville-Pilchuck alumni, gathered at the Tulalip Boom City site on November 7, to send up a message of support through the use of 400 lanterns for the victims of the October 24 Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting.

Eliza Davis and Alex Jimenez, who organized the event, reached out to fellow Boom City stand owners for lanterns and received a total of 400. Hearing about the event, firework wholesalers Anthony Paul, owner of Native Works, and Mark Brown, owner of R Brown (Great Grizzly Fireworks), also pitched in to donate lanterns. A mini fireworks show followed the event hosted by Boom City stand owners Chris Joseph, Junior Zackuse and Nathaniel Zackuse.

Tulalip tribal member Katie Hotts releases a lantern for the victims of the Oct. 24 Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hotts was among 100 other community members who released 400 lanterns during the vigil. (Photo/ Natosha Gobin)
Tulalip tribal member Katie Hotts releases a lantern for the victims of the Oct. 24 Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hotts was among 100 other community members who released 400 lanterns during the vigil. (Photo/ Natosha Gobin)

“We just wanted to send up prayers for all the victims, families, our communities and our youth,” said Davis, a Native American Liasion at Quil Ceda & Tulalip Elmentary for the Marysville School District. “In the past my family has used lanterns to send up prayers and messages for our loved ones who have passed on and it really was a healing experience for us. We had a lot of people in grief with heavy hearts come out and by the end of the event I could hear laughter and see smiles, so it turned out perfect.”

Natosha Gobin, who attended the event, said, “Prayers were shared and lanterns were sent above and filled the sky. Some slowly floated up and some quickly went into the air. They all seemed to follow the same path, which from Tulalip, looked as if they were headed straight to Harborview where Andrew Fryberg was surround by his family.”

Tulalip tribal members and Marysville Pilchuck High School alumni releases lanterns for the victims of the Oct. 24 Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Nearly 100 community members  released 400 lanterns during the vigil. (Photo/ Natosha Gobin)
Tulalip tribal members and Marysville Pilchuck High School alumni releases lanterns for the victims of the Oct. 24 Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Nearly 100 community members released 400 lanterns during the vigil. (Photo/ Natosha Gobin)
Tulalip tribal members KC Hotts and Kane Hotts wait to release a lantern for victims of the Oct. 24 Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Nearly 100 community members released 400 lanterns during the vigil. (Photo/ Natosha Gobin)
Tulalip tribal members KC Hotts and Kane Hotts wait to release a lantern for victims of the Oct. 24 Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Nearly 100 community members released 400 lanterns during the vigil. (Photo/ Natosha Gobin)

 

A young Tulalip tribal member releases a lantern for the victims affected by the October 24 Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation.  Photo by Natosha Gobin
A young Tulalip tribal member releases a lantern for the victims affected by the October 24 Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Photo by Natosha Gobin

 

Brandi N. Montreuil:360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com

 

Boom City or bust!

Tulalip Boom City provides shoppers with one-stop firework shopping with over 120 stands to choose from. Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
Tulalip Boom City provides shoppers with one-stop firework shopping with over 120 stands to choose from. Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News

Tulalip Boom City opens its 35th consecutive firework season

By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News

TULALIP – “It is a demand. There are people that want to buy fireworks and they know where to go to buy them. It’s why we are here, because of those return customers,” says Pink Cadillac stand owner and Tulalip tribal member, Dan Pablo Sr., about the annual firework-selling event in Tulalip known as Boom City.

Boom City, a malaise of 8×16 foot, cleverly decorated wooden stands displaying thousands of pyrotechnic merchandise, is in its 35th year of operation. The 126 stands owners will have a little over two weeks to sell thousands of fireworks and make a profit that can range from $2,000 to $30,000.

To organize this massive event and keep stand owners and the hundreds of thousands who come to purchase fireworks each year safe, is a group of people called the Boom City Committee. The committee, consisting of five people, is responsible for site security, sanitation, and making sure Boom City policies are followed.

To ensure safety at Boom City, security personal are on-site throughout the selling season and enforce rules for stand owners and customers, such as no smoking near the stands, only lighting off fireworks in the designated discharging area, and safety in general. Tulalip Police Department also maintains an active presence at Boom City with a K9 unit, in addition to foot patrol units, who patrol to discourage illegal activity.

Committee chairman, Dan Pablo Sr., says planning for the event takes months, and that includes collecting of permit and insurance fees from stand owners before holding a drawing for stand lot numbers. After merchandise stocking and set up is finalized, Pablo says stand owners wait for the “rush,” what he calls the four days before the 4th of July.

Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News

For 35 years, millions of customers have visited and purchased fireworks for their 4th of July celebrations, at what has been described as the single largest place to buy fireworks in the Pacific Northwest and a place unlike any other. But what makes Boom City so successful?

Pablo contributes its success to the fact that customers can purchase fireworks that are illegal in Washington state, such as firecrackers, bottle rockets, missiles and sky rockets.  Stand owners, who must be Tulalip tribal members 18 and over or spouses of Tulalip members to operate a stand, are legally able to sell these types of federal fireworks specifically due to the location of Boom City. Tulalip Reservation and it’s tribal citizens while they are on the Reservation, are subject to Tulalip and Federal firework laws, not State law, making the sale of fireworks exempt from state law, and it possible to possess and discharge them on tribal lands.

“I have seen prices in town that are lower than here, but our fireworks have more to them than what you can get in town, which is why they come here,” said Pablo, who also says the annual firework season presents a tremendous business opportunity to tribal members.

“It is a lot of work to do this. I look forward to it, and the extra money is a big draw. It is an opportunity to make extra money that you normally wouldn’t be able Boom-City_2to, but you have to have some salesmanship skills. You have to know what you have is the big thing,” said Pablo about being a successful stand owner.

It is not only stand owners who stand to make a profit at Boom City this year, but also Tulalip youth, 16 and over. Youth are hired during the firework season to help stock stands, run errands, and help draw in customers. Food vendors also hire youth to take and deliver food orders.

While stand owners are open two weeks before the 4th, it’s the few days before that they make most their profits.

“Selling is non-stop towards the end. There is no slow time. It is constant. It is a lot of work, and sometimes you don’t get lunch until 4:30 in the afternoon. It is that busy. But it is a lot of fun,” said Pablo.

Boom City will close on July 4, and is open daily from 6 a.m. to midnight. For more information regarding Boom City, please contact 360-716-4204. Or you can check out Boom City on Facebook.

 

Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boom City Swap Meet open for 2014 summer season

By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News

bnm_boom city swap meet-8TULALIP – The Boom City Swap Meet opened April 26, for the summer season, giving collectors, treasure seekers, and bargain hunters a chance to explore the emporium of eclectic items every Saturday and Sunday for only $1 vehicle entry fee. The swap meet will be open until mid-June, closing for a brief break for the Boom City Fireworks season, reopening in mid-July until September.

The swap meet features over 200 vendors selling wares, including a cariety of food vendors selling tasty treats where you can enjoy shaved ice, Mexican cuisine and Indian frybread among others.

This year children’s activities will include a large bouncy house and face painting.

Boom City Swap Meet is located at the Tulalip Boom City site behind the Tulalip Resort Casino and open Saturdays and Sundays, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It is a family friendly atmosphere. For more information about the Boom City Swap Meet, please visit their website at www.boomcityswapmeet.com.

 

Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov