The weeklong, annual Spark!Fishers festival takes place from Tuesday, June 20 to Saturday, June 24 and includes a 5K, Car and Art Show, street fair, parade, and so much more! New to Spark!Fishers this year is an innovative and entertaining aerial drone show happening at 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 24. We connected with Marty Miller of Mad Bomber Fireworks Productions to learn more about the state-of-the-art drone show that will be the first of its kind in Central Indiana.
Marty Miller, a Fishers resident of over 20 years, has been working with fireworks for more than 30 years and began working with drones over the last year. Marty explains that working with drones “allows us to not only do some really unique things with fireworks and drones together, but also do shows where fireworks are not preferred, whether that’s because of noise, fire risk, or town ordinance.”
Before the show, each drone is programmed and loaded with a pre-planned GPS waypoint mission base. In order to program each drone, Miller and his team use 3D design software to “create base images or animations of what we want to display. Those base designs are then imported into a proprietary rendering software where the design is pixelated into drone light points,” he explained. Multiple designs can be added into the software. Then, the algorithm plans the GPS missions loaded into each drone based off drone flight limitations like speed and battery life.
Since most of the hard work is completed before, the team isn’t as busy during the actual show. “Compared to fireworks, it’s very hands off during the show; we hit go and the drones take care of the rest,” says Marty.
However, working with drones comes with a unique set of challenges as it is a relatively new technology. It requires troubleshooting errors that pop up quickly and constantly checking systems to make sure everything is working correctly. These challenges keep working with drones interesting and exciting as “the entire industry is still figuring out what ‘works’ and what doesn’t,” he said.
Marty enjoys working with drones because of the ability to control more of what the show looks like as opposed to when working with fireworks or lasers. He says, “it’s exciting to be at the beginning of something that is going to really make a mark on the summertime event space for years to come!”
Check out the drones in action on Saturday, June 24 and visit sparkfishers.com for more details!
About Marty Miller
- Area of Fishers: Geist
- Favorite Local Restaurant: Ale Emporium
- Favorite Fishers Park: Cyntheanne Park
- Favorite Local Business: Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream
- Favorite Way to Spend a Saturday: Farmers Market in the morning, Smoothie King on the way home and a stop at Ale Emporium for lunch!
Ashley Read is a Public Relations and Community Engagement intern for the City of Fishers. She grew up in Noblesville, Indiana and is currently a junior at Ball State University. Ashley is majoring in marketing and double minoring in economics and digital marketing strategy. At Ball State, Ashley is a third-year member of the nationally ranked Ball State Code Red Dance Team and is a member of the Miller Business Honors Program. Outside of her internship, she loves to read, spend time with family and cook new recipes. Ashley loves visiting the Fishers Farmers Market, walking on the Nickel Plate Trail and checking out local boutiques! Follow her on Instagram and LinkedIn.