The shimmer wall was officially turned on last night and there was a party held on Cabarrus St. to see the lighting. I’m, for the most part, always pretty positive about things in downtown Raleigh but I was disappointed in what I saw.
I later found out that the shimmer wall looks great if you are close up. Walking down McDowell St. you can really see the lights pop. However, if you walk one block west, for example, the colors are faded and it also looks like there is a dead zone near the top.
We still love Cree for the donation but from talking to people out at the event last night, the consensus was disappointment.
Thanks to Proactive Busybody and The Kitch for contributing.
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I was at the lighting (you actually panned to the area where I was standing but I left approximately 5 minutes after it was lit) and as much as I hate to say it, I was underwhelmed. Talk in the video hits on some of the points that I wondered about. Do surrounding street lights drown out the effect? Is the angle of the wall responsible for the top center portion not appearing to be lit up? I too found the use of the leafblowers (they needed more!) to be…interesting. I guess we needed Hanna’s winds just a bit earlier.
Hats off to Cree for investing their own money to make this happen, but I think it needs some improvement in order to achieve the ‘wow’ effect when viewed from a distance.
I wasn’t expecting a lot, but I am thankful to Cree for this gift. In the future, it may not matter much, given that new developments will eventually block the view from all angles. I am more interested in seeing pedestrian-level improvements, as the new convention facilities and existing parking decks don’t quite help.