‘Telling a story in the sky’: Here’s what to expect from Rockford’s first-ever drone show

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — When the headlining musical act concludes at Day 2 of the CRE8IV Music & Arts Fest on Saturday, eyes will turn toward the sky for the city’s first ever drone light show.

Northern Lights Drone Shows will launch the roughly 14-minute show, which is synced to its own soundtrack, around 9:45 p.m. Saturday above the intersection of North First and Market streets in downtown. The show is ideally viewed from the parking lot behind CJ’s Public House and Inzombia Coffee at the corner of State and Madison streets, where One More Time: A Tribute to Daft Punk will perform before the drone show.

“People aren’t going to see the launch pad … all you’re going to see is suddenly these little lights rising up from behind the building,” said Andy Ackmann, chief operating officer of Northern Lights Drone Shows. “You’re not going to see them launch, but you’re going to see them coming out of nowhere.”

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Northern Lights Drone Shows is a business that took flight from another company in Racine County, Wisconsin. The owners of Jellystone Park and Bear Paw Adventure Park had been putting on small scale drone shows with about 50 devices at their campground since 2020.

This year, they decided to take the show on the road with Northern Lights Drone Shows and a fleet of 250 drones.

In Rockford, there will be 150 drones flying over downtown.

The show is catered to Rockford: You’ll see elements that celebrate CRE8IV and pay homage to Rockford’s moniker as Screw City, Ackmann said.

“It’s going to be something that’s unique to this festival and this community,” he said. “It’s not just a cookie-cutter show that we bring from place to place.”

The show is part of a three-day festival that celebrates the final season of the CRE8IV mural initiative, which at the end of this summer will have brought 50 murals to blank building walls in the region.

The celebration has live music on two stages featuring both local performers and touring acts such as the Smoking Popes. There is also mural painting, food trucks, interactive activities and mural tours.

The Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, which is putting on the festival to celebrate five years of summertime mural creations, highlighted the drone show as a first-of-its-kind event for Rockford. It will have multiple vantage points throughout downtown, but is ideally viewed near State and First streets where the festival is being held.

“If you’ve never seen one before it’s kind of hard to imagine,” Ackmann said. “It’s kind of like telling a story in the sky.”

The addition of the drone show did come with some concerns about its proximity to Rockford’s nesting peregrine falcons, which are a couple of blocks away on the eighth floor of the Iconic Energy building on the riverfront.

The female peregrine, Louise, has been nesting here for seven springs now and is very territorial to anything flying in her area. Louise also has four fledging chicks preparing for their first flights.

“She’s an aggressive bird, I’d hate to have her get tangled with the drones,” said Jennifer Kuroda, president of the Sinnissippi Audubon Society. “If it was me making the decision, I would say we move this out further from the birds so we can ensure the safety of all of them.”

Kuroda said those who keep an eye on the peregrines see how traumatic events such as the Fourth of July fireworks are for the once-endangered birds of prey.

“Could this be disruptive to them? We really don’t know. Nature is completely unpredictable,” she said. “If the show goes on and nothing happens we’ll completely breathe a sigh of relief.

Organizers feel the show is far less disruptive than the fireworks and can safely take place for the city’s official bird. Northern Lights said it also has safety protocols in place.

“We have multiple people stationed around keeping an eye out for things: If we see any kind of risk we can immediately land the drones,” Ackmann said. “We’ll have multiple stations around where the drones are flying to look out for any risk coming into the area.”

If you go | Rockford drone show

When: 9:45 p.m. Saturday, June 1 (after One More Time performs)

Where: State and Madison streets (the drone show is designed to be best seen from the parking lot behind CJs Public House and Inzombia Coffee)

More festivities: The drone show is part of the three-day CRE8IV Music & Arts Fest running 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, May 31; noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 1; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 2

Info: Go HERE

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas