Drone light show debuts this summer at Hall of Fame Balloon Classic
JACKSON TWP. ‒ Look! Up in the Sky!
It's a bird ... it's a plane ... it's a drone light show!
Organizers of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival Balloon Classic, sponsored by Aultman, have landed an aerial addition to the annual event, to be held July 26, 27 and 28.
"I'm stoked," said Jeff Dafler, president and chief executive of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce.
He's never seen a drone light show in person.
Same probably goes for most people in Stark County and surrounding areas. The Friday and Saturday night shows are believed to the first of their kind in the region.
For the wholly unitiated, a drone is an unmanned aircraft, which can be guided with a remote control or programmed with software to a specific flight plan.
Drone light shows on Friday, Saturday nights at Balloon Classic
The 300 illuminated small drones that will fly above the balloon field at the Kent State University Stark campus will simultaneously arrange themselves into a variety of synchronized patterns — creating animated images in the sky.
Each show will last about 12 minutes, said Kelly Piero, the chamber's vice president of marketing and membership strategy. The theme of Friday night's 10 p.m. display is a celebration of football; Saturday's 9:40 p.m. show (right before the fireworks) is sea in the sky.
"You'll definitely see a whale in the sky," Piero said.
The company behind the production is Skyworx. They are among about 60 companies in the fledgling industry that offer drone light shows, said Jim Christopherson, director of business development at the Boise, Idaho-based Skyworx.
The lighted, moving images can be everything from an octopus to a football player — each a singular piece in a unique story, created specifically for that customer.
Christopherson described it like this: Think of each flying disc-sized drone as a TV screen pixel. The more drones, the higher the resolution. But the display is not flat; it's three-dimensional.
"And we can make it 400 feet high," he explained. "It's a 40-story building in the sky that's moving."
Droning on at all sorts of events
Skyworx has presented shows at many festivals and community events, and has an upcoming gig at the Indianpolis 500. Christopherson grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, home of the International Balloon Fiesta, so he knows a thing or two about balloons.
He said drone light shows are an ideal complement to balloon events, because the tiny aircraft can still fly in much windier conditions than balloons can tolerate.
Piero said the idea of a drone show has percolated for a few years. It's coming to fruition because the Timken Co. stepped forward as a sponsor, with support from Visit Canton. Timken employee, Mike Sopczcak, a systems engineer specialist, also agreed to head the new Balloon Classic subcommittee.
"At The Timken Co., we’re marking our 125th anniversary in 2024 and what better way to help celebrate than by bringing a state-of-the-art drone show to the Hall of Fame Festival," said Timken spokesman Scott Schroeder. "Throughout our history, we’ve prioritized engagement in our communities and look forward to building on that tradition through our support for this year’s festival."
Dafler said about 130,000 people attend the Balloon Classic each year. Admission to the event is free, though parking is $10.
Reach Tim at 330-580-8333 or tim.botos@cantonrep.com.On X: @tbotosREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Hall of Fame Balloon Classic adds drone light shows to event
