Since the development of Fountain Park, the Town’s namesake fountain has glistened in the white light shone upon it each night. On December 15, the attraction will have new, more colorful lights shining upon it.
Residents are encouraged to watch the lights in a location such as their car, home, or community viewing area. The fountain and lights will run for approximately 45-minutes during this display. Afterward, the fountain and lights will resume their regular running schedule for 15-minutes from the top of the hour till 9 p.m.
The fountain currently has three locations of light fixtures with 18 total lights. Six lights are located in the base of the fountain structure that shines upwards, and two sets of six light fixtures shine onto the spray from the shore across the lake. Over the years, the lights have failed to make only six of the possible 18 lights operational. The current fixtures have outlived their life expectancy and require replacement.
The Town searched for the best product to meet the unique requirements of lighting a water feature that shoots water 560-feet into the air and can withstand that water falling back on the lighting equipment. Also, since Fountain Hills is a Dark Skies designated community, the Town needed to find a lighting system that would not affect this designation.
The research determined that a new color-changing LED lighting system with four lights mounted directly under the fountain and six lights on the shore for a total of 10 lights will provide ample lighting and still meet the Dark Skies regulations.
By reducing the number of lighting fixtures, the Community Services Park staff have proactively reduced the cost of investment and overall operational expenses by moving to LED options. The lighting components have a 25-year life expectancy and will have improved efficiency by more than 40 to 103 percent over the previous fully operational system.
The lights will shine on the fountain as it runs for 15-minutes the top of the hour till 9 p.m. each night starting Tuesday, December 15, 2020.