Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
A light spectacle in honor of the Lake Wales High School Class of '75 will guild the white limestone walls of the Walesbilt Hotel Friday night and the sponsor has promised that "as bright light will shine over uptown Lake Wales."
A sample of one set of the images that will be projected onto the walls of the Walesbilt Hotel Friday night include Highlander-themed logos honoring the Lake Wales High School class of 1975. Others are said to have a "more psychedelic" feel in keeping with the '70s theme.
A changing display of graphic images will be projected on the walls of the ten-story building in Lake Wales by River City Lights, a production company based in Decatur, Ala. The show will include school logos and 70's themed images with a "more psychedelic" theme, according to company president Chris Kemp.
The show is free to the public and will be projected on the north and east walls of the hotel beginning at about 8 p.m., according to Kemp.
The show is being funded by a former Lake Wales resident, Pat Underwood Jr., who was not a member of the graduating class, having only attended Polk Ave Elementary briefly with the class during the 1967 – 1968 school year. Underwood is intent on honoring the memory of his grandfather, a WW I veteran and long-time member of the Lake Wales Lawn Bowling Club, and his one-time classmates are the apparent beneficiaries as they celebrate their graduation 50 years later.
"I am the lawn bowling club now," Underwood told Lake Wales News.net. "All they have left is the grassy knoll" where the club once existed near Crystal Lake. Underwool said the group was also known as "the Canadian Club" because of its founding by a group wintering here from the north. Underwood spent many summers in Lake Wales with his grandfather as his father completed five tours of duty in Vietnam.
"I still have the club's rotating trophy and the bowling balls that my grandfather won it with," Underwood said. He praised the staff of the City of Lake Wales who expedited the permit in a matter of hours, adding that he hopes to work with them to erect a permanent monument honoring the veterans and the bowling club they created.
A daytime view of the Walesbilt Hotel, located at the intersection of Park Avenue and First Street in Lake Wales.
According to Kemp, reached by Lake Wales News as he was bringing the equipment south, shows such as the simple one being produced Friday night still cost thousands of dollars. His company often produces much more complex shows in locations as scattered as Miami and Alaska. He has also created shows for festivals including Burning Man.
The show in Lake Wales will be a one-off deal, but Underwood has high hopes for the future of the city and expects it to thrive because of the talent obvious within city government staff.
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