The James family sets up their display as another firecracker goes off in the distance on July 4, 2017. (Photo by Rachel Sadon)

The rumors of a Columbia Heights fireworks show are the best kind of local legend—a true one.

The official fireworks display, the professional one that draws hundreds of thousands of people to the National Mall every year, will end around 9:30 p.m. As tourists caravan out of the city, that’s when the District really starts to light up.

On most blocks, that means isolated firecrackers exploding overheard with little rhyme or reason throughout the night (please see any neighborhood listserv on July 5 if you would like to debate the merits of this).

But in-the-know Washingtonians head for 13th Street NW. They pull out lawn chairs or clamber up rooftops. They keep an eye on a series of parked cars on the 3500 block, knowing that the excitement begins after they’re moved. They watch as an intergenerational group of men pulls out a stack of fireworks and places them on platforms. They see the crowd disperse, and know that the neighborhood show is about to begin.

“I like to do a mixture of the large displays and the smaller displays together and do different scenarios,” says Mack James, a native Washingtonian and former ANC commissioner who works in transportation. “You hear the whistling, the little whistling things. Each one is different, so when you fire them off at the same time, then you get this effect and you hear the things going ‘Pew wee wee weee,’ then you hear the ‘Boom boom boom,’ too.”

James has been setting off fireworks, he says, since moving into his home in 1984 (James’ family home was just down the same block). But for the first decade or so, it was a small affair, a bit of entertainment after the family returned from seeing the display on the National Mall.

“That was our annual thing. We used to load up the cars and we go down and take all the kids … about 30 of us,” he recalls. Upon returning home, James would set off what he calls “kid” firecrackers, as a cast of siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins watched.

By now, somewhere between 75 and 100 friends and family members show up each year to the party. Sometimes they still go down to the Mall first, particularly if Independence Day falls on a weekend.

“It’s my favorite holiday,” says Mack’s niece, Jasmine James. “The whole family loves it.”

A fireworks display in Columbia Heights on July 4, 2017. (Photo by Rachel Sadon)

At some point maybe a decade ago, he doesn’t quite recall when, James’ cousin introduced him to the heavier duty stuff. James taught himself how they work, and the homemade fireworks display started getting larger and more coordinated.

“Over the years, it grew. Then what happened was, I guess, we would come back from downtown. We would hit the neighborhood, we would come down the street and see all these people sitting and waiting. We were like, what’s going on?” James says, quickly realizing “ohhh, they waiting for the fireworks.”

James started asking the gathered crowd for donations to supplement the funds from his own pocket and contributions from family members.

“We said, ‘Hey, you all enjoy the show. You all love to see the fireworks. Chip in and we could make it bigger,” James says. “I would say a good eight years ago, it really started exploding.”

He estimates that this year’s fireworks cost somewhere around $1,500, with about 75 percent contributed by the community and his family members.

Sitting in his living room on Monday night, with sheet cakes cooling in the kitchen and red, white, and blue decor gracing the dining room table, James says the fireworks display is about bringing his community together.

“It’s people coming together in the community, having a nice time. You know it’s all about the family, the James family,” he says.

His wife, chiming in from the next room, has a slightly different story.

“It was because he’s a big kid at heart. That’s how it started,” she says with a laugh. “He incorporated the community. But he’s a big kid.”

With a slightly mischievous smile, James concedes the case. “That’s true, too,” he says.

Still, he says he takes great care to set the firecrackers off safely—making sure that the firecrackers are level and not going to arc in unexpected directions, clearing the area so no one comes within a few hundred feet, blocking off several parking spots, and keeping a hose on standby. James says they’ve never had any safety incidents.

Mack James has been setting off small fireworks in Columbia Heights since the mid-1980s, but he started getting into bigger displays about a decade ago. (Photo by Rachel Sadon)

Precautions or not, most of this isn’t legal. While sparklers, firecracker cones, and box fires are all permitted in the District, D.C. law prohibits “any firework that explodes, such as cherry bombs, salutes, Roman candles, floral shells, artillery shells” and “any firework intended to move after the piece is placed and fired; such as bottle rockets, parachutes, buzzbombs, pinwheels, helicopters, jumping jacks.”

But James says that while police officers and fire officials have passed by the house, they generally leave the party alone.

“They drive by now and watch themselves and keep going … I think so many people now have ’em throughout the city,” he says. “If I was the only one, they could come and shut me down and say you can’t do it or whatever. But you gotta stop all these other people.”

And at this point, James says he sees no end in sight for his annual show and the friends, family, and neighbors who have come to expect it.

“I don’t know if I can stop now. I don’t think they’re going to allow me to stop,” he says. “They’d be really disappointed. As long as the donations keep coming, I’ll continue to do it.”

He’s already started passing the torch, too. These days, the 62-year-old rarely lights the firecrackers himself, instead directing his brother and nephews in the timing and order that he prefers.

“Right now, we teaching the younger ones, the twenty-something year olds,” James says. “I’m showing them what I know as far as display, how to shoot them off. I have little secrets on how to fire ’em off and the timing.”

This year, James is planning to shoot the first of the three-part show around 9:30 p.m. And he already has a vision for the years to come. 2020 is the next time the holiday falls on the weekend, he notes.

“It just grew over the years,” he says. “It just spiraled into something.”