News & Trends

Freemont Street Experience

Watchfire Signs recently completed a total overhaul and update of the Fremont Street Experience showy light display. With 23 million visitors to the light show annually, and simply by virtue of being in Las Vegas, the final result has to be a showstopper.

If you’ve been to Vegas, you probably recall the long half-dome in the section of town known as old Vegas. There has not been a significant upgrade or content change to the lightshow in 14 years. So, when I started hearing rumblings that Watchfire was working on this project, I gave CEO Steve Harriott a call and got an overview of this mammoth project. Harriott began by telling me that this is the single largest project Watchfire has ever completed – and that’s saying a lot for this global signage leader.

Freemont Street Experience

The project contains 130,000 square feet of digital signage, with more than 67,000 modules containing 49 million LEDs. Harriott explained that Watchfire designed an all-new product for Fremont Street that allows the modules to be cut to fit the existing structure without affecting the information displayed. Perforations in each module also let daylight filter through and air circulate, critical for dispersing heat and illuminating the street below. High-contrast materials and an innovative light-trapping design combine to make it possible to run content on the canopy during the day — something that was impossible with the old design.

Freemont Street Experience

All told, the $30 million renovation is 1,500 feet long and is suspended 90 feet above a pedestrian mall. The new digital canopy is now seven times brighter and four times sharper than the original, making the light show on the canopy vivid even during daylight hours. Fremont Street Experience is adjacent to 10 casinos and more than 60 restaurants.

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