One of the best parts of fall is providing outdoor event lighting for events like Garden Glow. The first annual Maymont Garden Glow event just finished up and it was one of the coolest events to see in the city. Running for three weeks during the height of fall colors in Maymont’s Japanese Garden. Attendees were treated to magical views of the landscape bathed in colored light and tall pine trees were illuminated from below while rolling hills stood aglow. Boulders beneath the waterfall sparkled and shimmered with color-changing lighting.
The Japanese Maple in the garden was beautifully lit with a combination of blue uplighting and Spanish moss string lighting.
Environmental Difficulties of Outdoor Event Lighting
The Lighting & Sound Co is always involved early in the planning process for events like Garden Glow. Outdoor event lighting provides a number of challenges, such as weather. We provide consultation to the event organizers about technical feasibility and lighting features. For Garden Glow, the remote outdoor site location of the Japanese Gardens provides additional obstacles to the event design.
It took over 3 miles of extension cable to provide all of our waterproof LED lighting throughout the garden with power.
With many events, our event technology equipment is operating indoors in climate controlled-spaces. However, Garden Glow was quite the opposite with lighting used outdoors exposed to the full elements for more than three weeks. This necessitated the use of waterproof lighting designed to be used outdoors. (IP65) Lighting fixtures, power supply cables, and control enclosures were all weatherproof. The Lighting & Sound Co maintains an extensive stock of suitable weatherproof LED lighting fixtures.
Our event partners, Temp Power, provided power for Maymont Garden Glow
Providing Power for an Outdoor Event
Electrical power is not available in Maymont’s Japanese Garden, so generators were required. Our event partners at Temp-Power were also involved, supplying mega-silent portable generators that kept the lights on while staying quiet to avoid distracting from the tranquil ambiance of the event. Remote monitoring, standard on all Temp-Power units, kept us aware of fuel levels to prevent running out of gas.
This amazing annual event was sold out nearly every evening it was open. We are definitely looking forward to next year’s Garden Glow.
Cover photo by Michael Simon Photo