Volunteers sought to test new software for musical fountain

A Grand Valley group is seeking volunteers to test a new software program that will allow users to choreograph the lighting, music, and water movements of the historic musical fountain in Grand Haven.

Engineering and computing students — led by Terry Stevens, affiliate professor in the School of Engineering — developed the software as part of an ongoing partnership between the City of Grand Haven and Grand Valley to update the city's well-known fountain. 

Stevens said the software will eventually become publicly available to anyone who wishes to choreograph their own song. Choreography designs will be submitted to the Grand Haven Musical Fountain committee. 

"The goal is to rapidly expand the fountain's play library," Steven said. "Before we can do that, we must finalize the software by getting feedback from testers." 

Students interested in testing the software can contact Stevens at [email protected]. 

This semester, another student group will design and build a new water feature for the fountain. The water formations have not been updated since the fountain was installed in 1963. 

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 at Grand Valley to retrofit and update the fountain, including its PLC in 2013 and the choreography software in 2014. 

He said the students will research and design the water feature as their senior project during the winter semester, and spend the spring and summer semesters building it. 

Built in 1963, the choreographed musical fountain performs nightly 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.