The scope of this project was massive. It is one thing to light a large tent or a large stage; it is another to light the outside of a museum and the park out front. Completely surrounded by trees, the yard would host over a dozen Oyster Shacks and Bars all custom built out of wood and tin. Charlotte Arrangements, the event coordinators, wanted me to light the giving tree, the entire front of the Mint Museum, the trees around the grounds, and the shacks. Thus began my thousand miles of cable.

The Giving Tree was the focal point for the fundraiser. We wanted to create a sense of purpose to venture across the lawn to join in support for Carolina Breast Friends. Standing around a 100’ feet high, the magnificent tree was lit with 7 Colorado 3’s, extra bright LED color changing fixtures. Three small truss towers created a triangle around the tree to light up into its foliage. The two towers on the lawn had 2 LED fixtures each to cover the full girth of the tree. Only one tower was used in the back to completely cover the tree. To bring a greater definition to the Giving Tree we used two more fixtures on the trunk. One was placed on the ground and the other was placed about 30 feet in the air. Luckily we had the assistance of a lift to set up. Unfortunately we didn’t have the lift to break down, but I love showing off my monkey skills.

The Giving Tree stood like a tower of hope. We started the event with the tree in White. Over the course of dinner until the final ceremonies, the color changers slowly moved from white to pink. The transition was unnoticeable unless the guest didn’t pay attention for awhile. The effect built a sense of anticipation throughout the crowd.

For the perimeter trees, we didn’t have the budget to be quite as detailed with the lighting; but we were still dynamic. Each trunk was individually lit with a Colorado 1 fixture. The 12 degree beam angle cast a beam of light up the trunk nearly 60 feet into the air. At night the starry sky was blocked by the massive trees, creating an ominous absence of light. The darkness was overwhelming. However, the tree trunks brought depth and beauty to the space as they slowly swept through rich purples to pinks to violet blues. The black hole became one of the greatest assets to the event.

For the front of the Mint Museum, twelve Opti RGB Color Changing Fixtures accented the architectural lines. Similar to the trees I programmed slow sweeping programs between the pinks and purples. Two groups of 3 trees are right outside the entrance. Although they are small, these trees are right in the middle of the auction area which made them just as important as their giant friends across the yard. Each tree was assigned its own fixture. Instead of having subtle changes sweeping through them, I used non motion blue, pink, and purple stills. Every three minutes I would switch the order of the colors with a 20 second fade time. For the final touch I used 40 Colorcast 14 color changing LEDs, to line the glass front. Immediately one criticizes the choice, because light doesn’t reflect light. However the lighting was not lost but added a glorious surprise. The glass was separated by long white lines and the roof had a beautiful line wide enough to create a stunning outline of color. The view of the front of the museum was picture perfect. Outside of the Giving Tree, I wanted the Mint Museum to stand out as both a sponsor of the event and a beautiful architectural form.

For the food shacks we went through a couple different phases. We ended up deciding to use amber lighting for the shacks to give the space a homey touch. The lower color temperature of white reminds most everyone of fire light and reading by the dingy lamps as a youth. For each shack we lit each panel of tin with its own fixture. Familiar and warm, two more lights were focused to light the food for obvious reasons.

I wanted the bars to stand out so we used a whiter white. Almost bluish in hue, the white bars were given to a more modern traditional feel. The higher color temperature (Blue White) brought out the whites and colors of the drinks. Consciously we carried the Shabby Sheik theme through the lighting.

The Entrance didn’t turn out like I wanted but who can fight registration. We used a rosy violet light for the inner roof of the space. The color was both functional and thematic. Unfortunately, registration had the chandeliers turned up brightly. Due to the principles of additive color mixing, color can’t compete with white. The Oysters on the Lawn sign hung from the peak of the shack. In order to ease the process for the sign in, I doubled up white light fixtures to make the sign impossible to miss. Human nature naturally draws are attention to the brightest object present in every situation thus making sure everyone knew where to go.

Just before the event, we realized that some displays had been missed in the plans. Squeezing several more lights into the plan, we tracked down more cabling and lit several fall displays. By the way, at this point it is already dark outside. We were trucking it to a parking lot several hundred yards away to grab what we needed. Due to the long day, we had to make several trips. Eesh!

Beyond the lighting design for the space, the biggest challenge was the cabling. Running over 1000 feet of socopex and 1000 feet of extension cords, I had two guys running just power all day long. Running all the 144 Fixtures off of only 60 amps, I was very conscious about power consumption. But low power consumption didn’t help the work load. In order to keep the cabling hidden we had to run cable around the perimeter making creative jumps through flower beds and covering cable with straw. We also helped provide the power for the carving stations. Due to a miscommunication, I thought that the event coordinator had personnel running the power to the shacks. They believed I had volunteered for it. A couple phone calls later I had some extra help on an already crazy day in the park.

After the presentations, the client told me to have fun with the lighting. So we added some rich fall colors into the mix. Side note: when describing lighting ideas to clients most the time they don’t grasp everything I am trying to say. However with LEDs I can show them different color combinations and effects in minutes allowing for last minute changes. In the days of yore, many times a client would pull a last minute change that involved cutting gel sheets and switching out hot gel frames. With a simple command from the lighting console, I transformed the entire space allowing the client to judge the reality of light and not the imagined image.

The event was a smashing success. The event designer was thrilled. I was running around like a madman, making sure everything was perfect and didn’t get all the pictures I wanted. Oysters on the Lawn was one of my most exciting projects this year. C'est la vie.