GH Musical Fountain how they do their shows!
The Grand Haven Musical Fountain first performed in 1962. A fountain in a dance hall in Berlin inspired a WW I veteran and then Grand Haven Mayor to propose building a similar fountain. A group of citizens stabilized the sand on Dewey Hill by planting dune grass, designed and built the fountains, and programmed the songs. Patents were even awarded for some of the devices designed for the fountain.The fountain plays nightly from Memorial Day through Labor Day. A non-profit organization now runs the fountain. For the 60th anniversary in 2022, new water features were added and controls were upgraded. Every song is individually choreographed and one minute of performance will take between 1 and 3 hours of work.
In recent years much of the work has been around expanding the musical repertoire of the fountain. The team engaged the public via social media to understand what would interest people. They offered a class on choreography and how to use the custom software that creates the programs that run the fountain. More than 60 people showed up to take the class! From this effort, there are now 9 certified choreographers creating songs for the fountain. They have produced 75 new songs for this year. The themes and songs performed each night can be viewed on ghfountain.org