Hollydazzle 2011 was a little more dazzling than usual when Three Rivers Entertainment & Production utilized 20 Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures for the annual event that has become one of the East Coast's most popular fireworks and lighting shows.
Hollydazzle ushers in the holiday season at City Center at Oyster Point in Newport News, Virginia. Sponsored by the Newport News Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism, the event drew 30,000 people to evening festivities that included a spectacular fireworks and lighting display choreographed to holiday tunes both old and new.
Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures highlighted City Center's 45-foot LED Christmas tree, swept across the five-acre fountain where the fireworks originated, and shot their beams high into the sky to the accompaniment of holiday music and breathtaking pyrotechnics.
“In the past we've used other lights, but this year Sharpys were available via Main Light Industries in Wilmington, Delawar,” says Wade Shaner, lighting director with Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Entertainment & Production, which was brought on board by show producers Pyrotecnico. “We were going to use much bigger lights and are glad we didn't. We wanted a very fast, tight beam fixture, and Sharpy proved to be a kickass little light.”
Shaner deployed 20 Sharpys in four positions, even splitting the package so each position had five fixtures. The pods sat on piers just above water level in the fountain, which measures 400 feet in diameter. One of the piers also contained the LED Christmas tree.
“The Sharpys are an absolutely fantastic piece of equipment,” Shaner says. “You could see 600 feet of beam at some points, and the pods were 400 feet away from each other. The Sharpys were as bright as those huge one-can Skytrackers without having any mass to move. When we shone the Sharpys on the tree, you almost couldn't see the tree lights!”
Shaner was also impressed by the Sharpys “unbelievably fast” performance. “They were amazing!”
Kevin Hogan served as lighting programmer/designer for Hollydazzle.
A.C.T Lighting is the North American distributor for Clay Paky.
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky Area Manager for North and Latin America, adds, “tis was a very impressive use of our Sharpy and clearly demonstrates the power and flexibility of the fixture. We're proud that Mr. Shiner was able to use them to such great effect .”