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Grand Coulee Dam lights up on New Year’s Eve for the first time in 24 years

A refurbished light display at the Grand Coulee Dam will happen nightly from 5 to 7 p.m. until March 6. (Courtesy of Michelle Campobasso)
A refurbished light display at the Grand Coulee Dam will happen nightly from 5 to 7 p.m. until March 6. (Courtesy of Michelle Campobasso)
By Monica Carrillo-Casas monicac@spokesman.com

In a historic light show, various colors of blue, green, red and amber lit up Grand Coulee Dam for New Year’s Eve, decades after a fire ruined the display’s control panel.

The light show will continue to illuminate the dam from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., nightly until March 6. The Bureau of Reclamation Visitor Center has a free parking area for viewing.

The Bureau of Reclamation recommissioned the historic light show on the spillway of Grand Coulee Dam from 5 to 7 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, a landmark tradition that was built with $200,000 in 1957 and commissioned by the Secretary of the Interior in 1958.

However, in 2000, a substation fire damaged the supply cable that powered the light board causing them to halt the display for the last 24 years – until now.

“It is very much an excitement for the local community to bring back the colors of lights,” said Cliff Foster, assistant power manager at Grand Coulee Dam.

Foster said most of the controls and internal work was done over the summer and workers repaired the damaged power supply in the fall. Everything was restored by the end of October.

He said an estimated $15,000 went toward repairing the controls and replacing lights.

“The light show is 742 lights that, in various combinations and arrangements, shines different colors onto the face of the dam,” Foster said.

Unlike the laser light show in the summer, he said there is no storyline or music, it is only a showing of lights on the dam. Regardless, Foster said the community has had a favorable reaction to the news, with the Grand Coulee Chamber of Commerce reporting a positive engagement on their website.

We are expecting a good turnout by the community, but we have no way of knowing until it happens, due to holidays, weather,” Foster said.

Additionally, he said their intent is to continue to have the laser light show that has been a summer showpiece since 1989 when most tourists visit, and display the historic light show as they did before during the winter months.