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Partnership Will Bring Upgrades to Grand Haven Musical Fountain

December 19, 2016

Partnership Will Bring Upgrades to Grand Haven Musical Fountain

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

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Page last modified December 19, 2016