Should Baltimore have a ‘drone show’ instead of Inner Harbor fireworks on New Year’s Eve?
The idea has been suggested by Todd Yuhanick, interim CEO of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA), which puts on the annual fireworks extravaganza to ring in the New Year.
Yuhanick said he was impressed by the drone show at Artscape last Friday night and thought a similar presentation might be worth staging at the Inner Harbor, in lieu of the city’s traditional fireworks display.
Yuhanick said during a BOPA meeting this week that he discussed the idea with Mayor Brandon Scott, who also watched the drone show in the sky above the Mount Royal cultural district on Friday.
“The Mayor and I were watching it together, and I said ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to do this instead of fireworks on New Year’s Eve?’ and he said ‘I love the idea.’ So we’re going to explore, instead of doing fireworks this year, [doing] a drone show,” Yuhanick told his board.
A “drone show” or “drone light show” is an aerial display that uses a fleet of synchronized drones, each fitted with LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights, to create patterns, shapes and animations in the air. The lights can spell out words or create images that tell a story. They can be tailored to suit any number of locations and events, including festivals such as Artscape.
The drone show at Artscape was produced by the University of Maryland Medical Center. Video by Marci Yankelov
As the technology has emerged, more and more organizations and municipalities have begun putting on drone shows either to promote a sponsor or for educational purposes or as a new form of entertainment.
According to Sarah Gibbons, BOPA’s director of development, the drone show seen during Artscape was produced by the University of Maryland Medical Center, to celebrate its 200th Anniversary.
In that drone show, lights over the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall formed a red heart, two bicycle riders; a hand reaching down from the sky, Mr. Trash Wheel and many other shapes and patterns. They also spelled out ‘University of Maryland Medical Center,’ ‘UMMC,’ and ‘200 Years.’
“They reached out to us and did the drone show for our attendees,” Gibbons told the BOPA board. “It was really cool. We loved it.”
BOPA is an independent organization that has a contract to serve as Baltimore’s events producer, film office and arts council, Yuhanick became its interim CEO on June 2, and one of the first events during his watch was the Fourth of July fireworks celebration at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
“We noticed that a few cities did drone shows this past 4th, and I was intrigued,” he said in a text message after the meeting. “When the Mayor and I were watching the UMMC drone show at the opening night of Artscape, I think we both had the idea” of staging one in Baltimore.
One advantage of the drone shows, animal lovers say, is that they aren’t noisy and don’t traumatize wildlife or scare pets the way fireworks can. Because they don’t require gunpowder or chemicals, environmentalists say, they don’t contribute to air pollution and leave no toxic chemical fog. Because there are no pyrotechnics, they aren’t likely to cause fires – a danger that has prompted organizers of Baltimore’s annual “Monument Lighting” ceremony in Mount Vernon to use only “cold” fireworks.
Municipalities that have switched from fireworks displays to drone shows include Salt Lake City, Utah; Boulder, Colorado; and North Lake Tahoe, La Jolla and Ocean Beach, California.
Yuhanick said he wants to explore ways to develop a New Year’s Eve drone show that’s tailored to the Inner Harbor setting.
Besides being “more environmentally clean” than fireworks, “we can really make it about Baltimore and celebrate it,” he said.
A drone show is as bad an idea as windshield washer criminals. Please, no.
Artscape’s drone show was organized by Brooke Hall and Justin Allen of What Works Studios, who also conceived of the Light City Festival. BOPA has a history of taking their ideas and running with them (into the ground).