Arts & Entertainment
Holiday Lights at Gilroy Gardens
Gilroy Gardens puts on its annual Holiday Lights event this month.
With just a touch more laser, event continues this year, drawing in crowds after many regional theme parks have already shut their doors for the season.
The event showcases a five-week-long transformation of the park into a winter wonderland and the "Nights of Fire" event that combines music with a laser and fireworks show.
At least 1 million lights are involved in the decorations, park officials estimate. But nobody is really sure.
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"I've never counted them, but I've sure changed a lot of them!" said 55-year-old Russ Valiquette, park operations manager.
Of the 2,000 to 3,000 people that visit the park on a typical night, about half are locals, Valiquette said.
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"It really is Gilroy's theme park," he said.
The 13-minute show, which runs just before closing, is in its second year. Mike Froess, 47, is one of the licensed pirotechnicians from Fireworks America, the company that has returned to run Nights of Fire.
"Normally with fireworks, you get one shot. You don't get a rehearsal," he said, "There's a bit of setup to make sure everything is in the right position, but then you hold a button and it will go by itself."
The shows involve approximately 90 fireworks, four fog machines, an 1,800 LED "pixel wall," powerful speakers and a trio of lasers, included a new four-watt laser to compliment the other two-watt models.
The biggest challenge is "being synced," Froess said.
To help coordinate all the elements, technicians use a special four-track music system said Walter Dunckel, director of operations. One of the tracks feeds into the machine that times the show, giving it precise directions.
By using the kinds of fireworks used for indoor stadiums, show designers were able to place the action much closer to viewers than the usual fireworks show, Froess said.
"It's a very intimate setting," said Cleo Bavalee, another pirotechnician.
And unlike most fireworks shows, Bavalee said, "We get to hear the 'oos' and 'aahs'."
Gilroy Gardens will be open today from 4 to 9 p.m. and from Dec. 26 through 30.
If you'd like a sneak peak at the fireworks and hear from some fellow Gilroy residents, click on the video in this story.
