ETG Lights Up Dallas Main Street Garden

ETG LIGHTS UP MAIN STREET GARDEN

DALLAS, TEXAS (November 14, 2009) - No scissors were needed at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Main Street Garden, the City of Dallas' new state of the art park in downtown. In his remarks, landscape architect Thomas Balsley called it "a park of the future." It was only fitting that Excitement Technologies Group was on hand with an arsenal of cutting-edge special effects to officially mark the opening of the park.

As the sun set over the Dallas skyline, a special illuminated fiber-optic ribbon, custom created by ETG, was spread out across the stage. Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert took the stage and fired up the crowd with a few opening remarks. "Main Street Garden's going to put Dallas right up there. There is no city in the country that has as much going on downtown as this one," he said. The Mayor then initiated the special start-up sequence, activating a beam from one of ETG's cutting-edge high power lasers. As the beam dissected the ribbon, a fountain of sparks erupted and a fireworks exploded above the crowd, officially opening the park. The $17.4 million park is primarily funded through the City of Dallas’ 2003 and 2006 bond programs and is the first of several planned downtown core parks. It features multi-level grass terraces, a concert amphitheater, a playground, cafe, fountains and gardens.

One of the highlights of the park are five illuminated garden shelters, created by light sculpture artist Leni Schwendinger. The sculptures are inverted "L" shaped green glass shade-structures along the edge of Main Street. "I wanted to bring light and narrative out into the street where people already were" Schwendinger said. ETG provided the installation and programming support for the special lighting effects built into the structures, dubbed SpectraScape. "SpectraScape is a play on words that we derived from the Spectrascope. It analyzes substances through colored bandwidths when it's heated. This whole project is about stripes and bandwidths. We took the spectrascope... and the idea of a landscape and put them together and it just sounds so natural and yet much more playful and yet slightly scientific that it just became a real play on words to create a environment that is a kind of an analysis of the seasons" Schwendinger explains. Customized lighting effects crawl across the top of each shelter, specific to the time of year. ETG Production Manager Dani Sawtell and Production Coordinator Matt Roelfs painstakingly installed the vibrant LED lighting and special textured glass into each structure, bringing the artist's vision to life. Schwendinger says: "We are very excited that this warm city might have a nice cool respite after dark - especially because of the illumination SpectraScape is an opportunity for the people of Dallas to experience change with light, color and rhythm." At the dedication ceremony, Dallas Councilwoman Angela Hunt said the new park gives Dallas a "livable, vibrant, green downtown. These are the things that make a neighborhood."

Excitement Technologies Group (ETG) offers world class special effects design and production services for a diverse clientele that spans chart-topping performers to Fortune 500 corporations, "themed" entertainment, mechanical props and LED lighting for major municipalities and beyond. To learn how our innovative laser, cryogenic and other effects can enhance your next production, call 972-418-1100 or visit www.excitementtechnologies.com.