April 2026: Thursday Work Crew Update
Blog by GHMF Committee Member Dennis N.
Hello to all Grand Haven Musical Fountain Enthusiasts near and far. The coming 2026 season is nearly upon us. I hope everyone is as excited as I am about this season. Opening night is scheduled for Friday May 22, 2026. Prior to that, New Music testing is scheduled for May 8/9/15/16. For specific details, please visit the shows page:
https://www.ghfountain.org/shows
With this blog I will, from time to time, be updating you as to what’s happening behind the scenes and provide an inside look at fountain maintenance throughout the 2026 season. Even though the Fountain itself has been hibernating since being winterized in October 2025, the work has not. It has been a very busy Fall, Winter, and Spring thus far, and will remain that way until opening night.
Work has begun in the Pump House to get the Grand Haven Musical Fountain ready for the 2026 Season.
To start, three new Fountain programs were developed in the off season:
The Choreography Program, which was by far the largest update. Incorporated in this program are features designed to enhance choreographer creativity and simplify the process. Of course, this entailed choreographers learning a new program, but for the most part, that has been achieved and the fountain is well on its way to introducing a multitude on new songs for 2026.
The PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) Program. This unit receives commands from the computers and operates the water valves along with all other moving components.
The Fountain Operator Program for those who run the Fountain nightly. This will hopefully simplify their tasks since it will automate many of the previously manual commands and basically make it more “operator friendly”.
Of course, none of this could have been achieved (or affordable) without long time Fountain friend and guru Brad Boyink. Brad worked tirelessly (with some behind the scenes input along the way) after the 2025 season to totally rewrite all 3 programs. Remember, this was all done voluntarily and saved the Fountain tens of thousands of dollars. As mentioned previously, the most involved was the rewrite of the choreographer program. For this, Brad involved AI and has been recognized by Anthropic (an artificial intelligence company) for this monumental achievement in such a short period of time.
New lights are coming to the Fountain in 2026 for brighter, bolder colors!
Coming in 2026, new LED Fountain lighting. Several extra lights will be added to enhance the lighting experience. Colors will be nearly limitless. These lights will be 2-1/2 times brighter than the current fixtures. This setup, along with the new program, will more easily allow for advanced lighting commands. This will include the ability to place 2 different colors side by side per fountain module. Also, back lighting will be incorporated which allows for some interesting color blending and thus visual experience.
Our Fountain producer, Nicki Bonczyk, is feverishly at work as well. Nightly shows are being built incorporating new and old songs. The lineups look awesome with some of the new songs filling gaps in some of the 2025 productions. Without our producer and the creativity she brings, none of this would be possible. It takes a lot of planning and skill to take all the music produced and blend it into an enjoyable themed format. Of course, we have to include a Big Thank You to all in the Grand Haven community for responding to what types of shows. themes and music genres you prefer. This is a big aid in helping build shows that will entertain most all who have different tastes in music. We aim to provide sufficient content to offer a variety of shows and themes, ensuring that each attendee finds something enjoyable.
The Production Team will return in May to test all the new music for the 2026 Season.
The Musical Fountain Committee is back after a 2-month break. Monthly meetings started in March and will continue through the end of the year. They are back to choosing, reviewing and approving or disapproving music selections. Along with this, discussions include finance, maintenance, music licensing and future direction/improvements to the fountain.
Thank you also goes to the city of Grand Haven for their support with major maintenance items that cannot be accomplished by our small maintenance crew. Thank you to Brian Jarosz, city liaison, who coordinates these larger projects with the city. Thanks are also in order for those who spearhead our social media presence. The numbers of views and followers have increased tremendously over the last couple of years. Also, thank you to former Committee member, Sarah Kalio, for her contribution and design ability which you will see on the fountain nightly schedule representing the variety of shows and themes in a fun and colorful way.
Getting the Grand Haven Musical Fountain ready for the season.
Last, but not least, I would like to recognize those on the weekly maintenance crew. The crew meets every Thursday at the Fountain to address needed maintenance items as recorded by the fountain operators throughout the season. But more than that, there are larger projects that come up from time to time that need attention. Addressing these preemptively keeps the Fountain running smoothly and aids in avoiding major breakdowns during the season. Of course, the unexpected does happen, but we try to stay in front of it the best we can to mitigate any serious disruptions during the season. The maintenance crew started its projects on March 5th. Thus far, this season the following have been addressed:
Completing a project begun in 2025 by removing, rebuilding and replacing all the butterfly control valves. These valves control the water level of most all the water features observed on the Fountain. There is a rubber insert inside these valves which breaks down with age and allows water to leak by the valves. A total breakdown could cause catastrophic failure and disrupt a show to the point of having to suspend the balance of a show. These valves were rebuilt in house with new rubber inserts as well as some new hardware including rings and seals. This is just one case of using an in-house DIY project that can save the fountain time and money. The new valves will need to be calibrated and that should be completed next week. There are 3 different sizes of valves, and we now have one of each size rebuilt and waiting in the wings.
A couple of air actuators for the valves have been replaced and rebuilt in house. We have at least 2 of those rebuilt and on hand as well.
Another project that has been tackled is the repacking around the pump shaft of Pump #2. This required removing the old material, which was allowing too much leakage. We won’t be able to determine the outcome of this project until the pond is filled with water and we’re able to run the pump.
In the pump house is a pond level site glass. It allows operators to quickly tell if there is enough water in the fountain pond to run a show. By the end of last season, it was reading erratically and could not be trusted. Basically, at that point, operators manually looked at the pond with the visual aid of high and low point markers to determine if there was enough water to run a show. In the last couple of weeks, the line that feeds the site tube was taken apart and found in a particular area nearly totally plugged with corrosion. That plugged area has been replaced and when the pond is filled it should work properly.
Another off-season update has been the addition of a new WI-FI vendor. This should provide better and more economical service.
There are some other projects that are in the wings, the largest of which will be installing new lights. This should be coming up soon. New mounting brackets will need to be fabricated and at this point, it looks like the city will be handling that. All the old wiring will need to be removed and replaced as well as the lighting control boxes.
So thankful for my many volunteers and my Thursday work crew!
Volunteer Day is also fast approaching and is scheduled for April 25th. Additional details can be found on Facebook at Grand Haven Musical Fountain. Please join in and be a part of maintaining and keeping this Grand Haven Treasure in great condition and looking good for the upcoming season.
I hope you join me again next time for an introduction to the maintenance crew and further updates.