From Deseret News archives:
Outdoor theater: Laser show at Grand Coulee Dam redefines 'big screen'
Every year from Memorial Day weekend until the end of September, the Bureau of Reclamation nightly presents the Laser Lights Display on the face of America's largest concrete structure, Grand Coulee Dam.
During the approximate 36-minute show, you will hear the story of the Columbia River and Grand Coulee Dam.
"It's an educational tool for us in an entertaining way," said Craig Sprankle, public affairs officer for Grand Coulee Dam.
The crowd reaction varies.
"It depends on the person," he said. "Young folks like the fast-moving music, while older persons like the story line."
An average of 2,000 people view the display every night through the summer. Some nights it might be just 1,000 spectators, but on holiday weekends the number can jump to as many as 60,000. Fireworks ignited from the top of the dam are added on Independence Day.
Billed as the "Grandest Show in the Grand Coulee," this huge projection screen allows the image of the Statue of Liberty to be shown full-size — 151 feet high.
It isn't a movie presentation, it's images — huge ones — that dance across the face of the dam.
Most Utahns are probably familiar with Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam, both on the Colorado River, but Grand Coulee represents a different type of structure on the Columbia River.
Unlike Hoover Dam, which is extremely tall (726 feet) and 1,244 feet long, Grand Coulee Dam is just 550 feet high, but it's 5,223 feet long (almost a mile).
The dam is some 700 miles from Salt Lake City, and a visit here is usually part of a longer trip to the Pacific Northwest. Coulee Dam is about 86 miles west of Spokane or some 200 miles east of Seattle.
Sprankle admits Grand Coulee is off the beaten bath for most tourists to the Pacific Northwest. Nevertheless, it's worth a visit.
A light show on the dam started in 1957 with 742 flood lamps. Lasers were added in 1989.
The laser show tells the story of the Columbia River on a first-person basis, as if the water could talk, from prehistoric to modern times.
It uses running water — a few tenths of a foot in thickness — that turns white and bubbles over the dam's spillway to create a natural projection screen.
You may recall the laser scenes in "Star Wars," but this uses real lasers, and when they streak past and light up a section of the dam, it's a real treat of reality — not science fiction.
Music from well-known recording artists, such as Neal Diamond, accompanies the show.
This year's laser show begins at 10 p.m. nightly from May 27 to July 31. From Aug. 1-31, it will start at 9:30 p.m.; from Sept. 1-30, it will be shown at 8:30 p.m.
