Musical Fountain to open 46th season Friday night
Thu, May 8, 2008 
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BY MARK BROOKY
mbrooky@grandhaventribune.com
The 46th season of the Grand Haven Musical Fountain will begin this weekend.
It's the second season for the fountain's new voices and public-designed shows.
Last year, the longtime Grand Haven waterfront attraction bid farewell to the familiar "voice of the Musical Fountain," North Carolina resident Ron Hartsema. Hartsema retired after the 2006 season after narrating the recorded summertime shows for its first 44 years.
While many of last year's performances included some old shows featuring Hartsema's voice, new shows featured a variety of guest announcers. Hartsema's voice will be completely gone from the fountain this year, said Roger Jonas, chairman of the city's Musical Fountain Committee.
Ron Stevens of WGHN Radio will start things off this weekend as the fountain's voice, and he will be heard every Sunday.
"We're apt to throw in some new local celebrity voices from time to time," Jonas said.
The Sunday shows will also be a little different this year, Jonas said, calling the selections those nights as "soothing Sunday music" with fewer traditional religious songs.
While there are now nearly 200 songs choreographed with the fountain works stored in an updated digital library, anyone anywhere with a computer and Internet access can create a new arrangement. Digital selections have been produced from as far away as China.
"Most of the others are from local residents," Jonas said. "But it just shows we have a lot of local talent and a good pool in the West Michigan area to tap into."
To create a program, visit a special fountain Web site (www.ghmfsoftware.com) and follow the tutorial. It will show you how to download the program, teach the programming technique and demonstrate how to upload selections to the fountain committee. The committee then reviews submissions for quality and suitability before they can be included in the fountain library, Jonas explained.
"Shows can be created by drawing from any of the songs to put together a complete program, much like a jukebox," Jonas said. "The new library of song selections has been created over the past two years by public submissions."
Each fountain show is approximately 20 minutes long and consists of five to seven selections, with the lights and water of the fountain choreographed to the music.
"This season, the committee will also be conducting trials of (high-efficient low-watt) LED lighting as possible replacements for the incandescent lamp bulbs currently being used," Jonas said. "Also, the committee may conduct trials of other special effects from time to time."
The fountain's first shows for the 2008 season are Friday and Saturday, beginning at 10 p.m. The fountain will also be playing the following Friday and Saturday nights, May 16-17. Regular nightly performances will begin Friday, May 23, and continue through Labor Day.
The fountain's first performance was in October 1962, and its first full season was in 1963. The Grand Haven man who designed the fountain mechanics and held a design patent for it, William Booth II, died Jan. 8 at the age of 87.
On the Net:
www.grandhaven.org/fountain/fountainhomefrm.html
