Was It Good for You? Civic Center Conservancy Evaluating Success of Indy Eve Drone Show

On the evening of July 3, 300 drones equipped with LED lights took off from Lincoln Street in celebration of Independence Day. They were programmed to illustrate iconic American and Colorado landmarks over 200 feet in the air.

For over a decade, the Civic Center Conservancy has hosted a free Indy Eve Fourth of July celebration with fireworks over the City and County Building. But this year, the nonprofit switched things up and hosted a drone show over the Colorado Capitol.

While some regulars worried about the shift to drones and blamed unnecessary concern over fireworks, the organizers were ready for a change to the annual Indy Eve celebration.

"After over a decade of running the event in essentially the same way, you always reevaluate and ask, 'What does the market need? What does downtown need? What are consumers looking for?," says Eric Lazzari, executive director of the Civic Center Conservancy. "For us, July 3 has always been about celebrating country, community and culture in Civic Center. We may be changing the format, but that is still the core message that we're trying to do."
As they began planning that format change, Lazzari admits that some people on his own team were initially skeptical about replacing traditional fireworks with drones. But after contracting with Denver-based Brightflight Drone Shows and discussing the possibilities with owner Tom Dolan, the crew began to get creative.

"It was mainly a brainstorming session internally with our team at the Conservancy that resulted in the images we saw. Things like the Blue Bear and Blucifer certainly jumped off the list, but in the same session, we put up the columbine, the Colorado state flag, the Denver D, the Denver city flag," Lazzari recalls. "There's so much topophilia here in our city, and ultimately, the goal was to represent that for the community."

Brightflight has only been in business for a year, but had already put on shows for major clients like Colorado State University. Still, the Indy Eve show was its biggest yet. "We actually passed up on a few opportunities to fly on the Fourth of July just in preparation for the Denver show," Dolan says.

During the show, the Brightflight drones moved swiftly between images, often synced to music playing throughout the park. All of the icons that Lazzari's group had considered made an appearance. And not only was Blucifer there, but he shot red lasers out of his eyes at an oncoming UFO.

In the past, artists have found themselves in legal trouble when depicting the Blue Bear and Blucifer. Dolan says his crew made sure to go through the proper channels with the city and the artists to avoid any problems.
Drones were not the only new visual element this year. The Conservancy partnered with Waveform.exp to project light shows onto the columns of the Greek Amphitheatre and Voorhies Memorial. Combined with the drones, those shows expanded the overhead entertainment to approximately forty minutes. Last year's fireworks show lasted about ten minutes.

While reactions to the new displays were positive from the thousands in the crowd — in addition to appreciating the drone and light shows, people also appreciated the lack of explosions and smoke — the desire for fireworks still lingers in the air. Lazzari says he understands that, and welcomes the feedback.

"Our status has always been that this was an experiment to see how it goes, see how people react," he adds. "We never will and still haven't closed the door on fireworks."

But for Brightflight, the reviews are already in. "That was Denver's largest drone show to date," Dolan says. "As a Denver-based company, to be able to put on that show for the community was really something special. We were super proud of that show."