PCEC News
Partnership Will Bring Upgrades to Grand Haven Musical Fountain
December 19, 2016
An ongoing partnership between the City of Grand Haven and Grand
Valley will bring several potential updates in 2017 to the city's
well-known musical fountain.
Six engineering students will complete their senior project by
designing and building a new water feature for the fountain. The water
formations have not been updated since the fountain was installed in 1963.
"Nozzles shoot water into the sky at varying heights and it's
choreographed to music and LED lights. Except for the sweeps, the only
water movements are up and down," said Terry Stevens, affiliate
professor in the School of Engineering. "The water formations
have been the same for 53 years, so the city would like to see
something new."
Stevens is a member of the Grand Haven Musical Fountain Committee
and installed the fountain's initial industrial control system (PLC)
in 1983. He has led several student projects to retrofit and update
the fountain, including its PLC in 2013 and choreography software in 2014.
He said students will research and design the water feature
during the winter semester, and spend the spring and summer semesters
building it. The group will also update the fountain's only moving
water feature — sweeps that oscillate back and forth — and provide
updated documents and prints of the fountain's hydraulic, pneumatic
and water systems.
Built in 1963, the choreographed musical fountain performs
nightly on the weekends from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The
fountain was the largest musical fountain in the world when it was
built, and held the title until 1998 when the Bellagio Fountains in
Las Vegas were built.
View on GVNext: https://www.gvsu.edu/gvnext/index.htm?articleId=F298576C-F66A-F229-73886100483F041D