Meet The 2024 Artists: James Baxter (Pro Competitor)

2024 Pro Display Competitor

James Baxter

North Branch, Minnesota
Owner & Pyrotechnician at Minnesota Pyrotechnics

From large-scale shows to stadium events to special projects, there isn’t much with pyro and DMX that James won’t try if it’s feasible and sounds cool. He and the crew at Minnesota Pyrotechnics are ready to show the Sky Wars audience what they can do.

How James caught the pyro bug

James began doing pyro professionally in 2013 when he all but stumbled upon the nonprofit group Northern Lighters Pyrotechnics.

He happened to notice BIG piles of fireworks in someone’s garage while he was helping them fix their cable. When James asked about the fireworks stash, the guy explained he was part of a nonprofit. James was so intrigued that he joined and began shooting shows for Northern Lighters himself. For several years he was a board member, led many shows, and was part of the design team for their PGI shows.

In 2022, James began his own display company, Minnesota Pyrotechnics, where he and his team create displays for all kinds of occasions and requests.

“Pretty much, if it sounds cool or fun and makes cost effective sense, we try to do it.” James says Minnesota Pyrotechnics is similar to a club, just with no board. They still host social get-togethers for volunteers like open shoot nights and fireworks building events, and all the profits they earn go back into the company to invest in equipment. 

In just two seasons the group has produced displays for a variety of requests, from fireworks shows to film projects to “taking care of beaver dams.” James says they’re now heavily involved in DMX such as lasers and flame or spark machines in addition to pyrotechnics. They have the license to build fireworks, too, and have performed custom celebrations of life–placing ashes in a pyrotechnic shell and launching it in memoriam–for families who’ve lost a loved one.

James says this year he’ll “break the 100 mark” for number of shows he’s led or assisted with. As an indoor/outdoor proximate license holder in Minnesota, he gets requests to provide special effects for sports teams (including the Timberwolves, Hockey Minnesota, and the All Star Game at Target Center), live music events (he’s done a couple Lewis Tomlinson shows and once when Jelly Roll performed in town), and all sorts of other projects.

What to expect from James’ 2024 show

“Less is more.” Don’t expect ‘sky puke’ in this show!

James likes to use “all of the sky” with various types of products for a multi-level display. “It’s definitely a dance in the sky, and it’s all artistry.” He’ll be incorporating a lot of special effects–which should be no surprise based on his show background!–and plans to “push the limit of DMX capabilities” with Cobra Firing Systems. 

His soundtrack signature is a nice flow between songs and at least one “kids song”. James can almost guarantee you’ve never heard this particular kids song he’s chosen for his Sky Wars show, but he bets you’ll start laughing when you do.

James’ big-stage display experience

While he’s only been to Sky Wars once before (he helped Fireworks Forever set up their Unlimited display in 2019), James is no rookie when it comes to large-scale projects at pro events.

“I was part of the design team for our PGI show,” James says, speaking of his days with Northern Lighters presenting at the 2017 Pyrotechnics Guild International convention. “We introduced ‘The Tower’! We had a hundred-foot tower on site, which I personally climbed to the top of, which was fun.”

Their out-of-the-box thinking earned them first place at the PGI display competitions that year. Inspiration for the tower came from the 2013 “Tower of Light” in Malta by St. Mary’s Fireworks Factory.

Another show James includes in his pyro resume is the a 100th Anniversary show his company shot for Stacy Daze in August 2023:

Favorite pyro show to date:

James says one of his favorite shows to date was at Pathfinder Village, a venue that offered audience viewing 360-degrees around the show. “We’re dead square in the center, and we basically had twenty launch positions in a complete, perfect circle.” He led the show in 2018, below.

Ask The Pros: Questions from the Fans

Jessica Bosworth: How many people will you recruit to help you?

“Our plan of attack is to do a lot of prepwork beforehand. There’ll be probably 20-30 people helping us volunteer before we go down. I believe we’re at 15 people right now that will be going down to help on-site.”

Bo Domescik: Do you think you’ll get quality sleep between the months of August and September?

“Nope! We shoot Stacey Days the first week in August, and then we go to PGI the following week. And then, I’m a board member and the race director for Haydays this year, so the first week of September we’ll be there. And then we have a show the second week, and the third weekend, and we have to do construction in between. To top that off, we moved and we’re building a house. So it’s going to be a lot of fun this year!”

Sam Christensen: Not just anyone gets the opportunity to compete at Sky Wars. Winner or no, what does this mean for you in your pyro journey?

“A lot of it is just showing people what we can do, and that all these other things that are out there–special effects, LEDs, flames–are not to be scared of. They can all complement each other. It’s an honor to be able to come out and show what we can do.”

If you are crowned this year’s champion, how will that further your pyro career?

James says winning would no doubt earn Minnesota Pyrotechnics major bragging rights! But at the end of the day, their goal is to have fun and entertain. “That’s what I like most. We don’t plan to be a national company; that’s not our goal. [A Sky Wars win] would just vindicate that we can entertain people and do a good job at it.”