Drone show to join Space Needle New Year’s celebration
Hundreds of drones will be part of the New Year’s celebration at the Space Needle for the first time this year.
The Needle has announced the midnight show will add drone light formations to one of the most iconic New Year’s shows in the country. The drones will be integrated with the fireworks and light displays being launched from the Needle.
Directly north of the Needle, the drones will fly between 200 and 600 feet above the ground. The coordinated drone effects will be best seen from the Seattle Center campus grounds with festivities beginning at 8 p.m.
Sky Elements, a Texas-based drone light show company, was chosen to produce the show, which will include fireworks and light displays being launched and projected off of the Space Needle. Sky Elements’ drones also performed at T-Mobile Park following a Seattle Mariners game in July of 2022.
This will be the first New Year’s celebrations with a live audience at the City Center grounds since 2019, and there will be two shows, one at 10 p.m. and one at 11 p.m., as well as a final light show at midnight to celebrate the New Year.
The Space Needle is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world and is what distinguishes the Seattle skyline from other cities.
The tower completed a $20 million revitalization in 2000. The project included the construction of the Pavilion Level, SpaceBase retail store, SkyCity restaurant, Observation Deck improvements, exterior lighting additions, and exterior painting. The Space Needle was built for about $4.5 million dollars in 1962.
In September 2017, the Needle commenced construction on the largest renovation project in its history, “The Century Project.” The renovation aimed to reveal the tower’s internal structure and harken back to the original conceptual sketches, all while expanding and improving its views.
Built for the 1962 World’s Fair, the tower’s futuristic design was inspired by the idea that the fair needed a structure to symbolize humanity’s Space Age aspirations.
Located at Seattle Center, the Space Needle stands at 605 feet tall and is one of the most photographed structures in the world.
