Tulalip Tribes' Boom City draws thousands to its fireworks booths

Rows of fireworks stands stood 10 wide and 15 deep, all constructed of plywood boards tacked together and splashed with colorful paint.

Inside were people who know the fireworks business, people who have spent decades learning it.

These 154 booths make up Boom City on the Tulalip Tribes reservation.

"These few weeks a year it really does become its own city," said Mike Dunn, who has sold fireworks at the Marysville-area reservation for more than 30 years.

Dunn started back when it was only 12 stands lining either side of the road by Tulalip Bay. Now it sweeps across a huge gravel parking lot owned by the tribe.

"You get to know people out here," he said. "There are a lot of us who have been out here for decades, and it's nice to see everybody again every summer."

Late last month, he sat with his wife behind the counter of The Flaming Arrow, talking over prices and comparing brands. His daughter owns the stand next to his. Like many of Boom City proprietors, fireworks have become a family institution, employing parents, cousins and siblings for the four weeks they are allowed to sell their products.

"What saves me is my returning clientele," Dunn said. "You treat them right and tell them the truth, they should return the next year. I've been selling to some people since they could see over the counter. Now they're grown adults with their own kids."

To own a stand at Boom City, a vendor must be a Tulalip tribal member. Dunn said selling fireworks on the reservation means they are legally allowed to sell products other people aren't, such as the regular old firecracker that's outlawed for sale in the state of Washington.Donna Paul owns Ma and Pa's One Stop Shop, another stand tucked a few rows behind Dunn's. She has three family stands scattered throughout Boom City. Contrary to her sparkling, bedazzled firecracker T-shirt, she and her husband take the fireworks business very seriously.

"We go to China every year to talk to the wholesalers, tell them what we like and they make it for us," Paul said.

Several thousand people come to her stand every year, she said, too many to count. That's what she loves, talking to customers and working close to her children and grandchildren.

"It's just a fun thing to do for a couple of weeks," she said, leaning back against the high shelves of 10-pound cakes, sparklers and bottle rockets. "But I am sure glad when it's over."