New show generates life into Niagara power station
Immersive sight and sound exhibit explores story of hydro power
A new immersive sound and light show bringing the Niagara Parks Power Station alive at night to the public started Friday.
With the use of projection mapping, laser lights, reactive technology and a project-specific musical score, “Currents: Niagara’s Power Transformed” tells the local story of hydroelectric power from its beginning to today.
The 30-minute show takes place inside the 116-year-old power station along Niagara Parkway in Niagara Falls.
“We encourage people to move within the space because especially at the beginning, parts of the middle and a little bit at the end, there’s some reactive technology where the show will interact with the guests,” said David Adames, chief executive officer of Niagara Parks.
Members of the media were invited to attend an exclusive preview of the show last week.
The show was produced by the creative minds at design firm Thinkwell Studios Montreal.
“Until you see the space, you don’t really understand the magnitude and the power and mobility of all the materials,” said François Bergeron, a founding partner of Thinkwell Group.
“Everything was designed and created on paper because during the pandemic, we could not gather around, we could not meet. Then, lo and behold, we fit all the elements in the space and really the space is the star of the show — you have to come and see it to understand it.”
Thinkwell is a guest-experience company that comes up with ideas around “what people do and why they go to a place, buy tickets and come back again and again,” said Bergeron.
He said the 20-year-old company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices and studios in Beijing, Abu Dhabi and now Montreal.
The project is extra special for Bergeron as it’s essentially the company’s first in Canada, and he’s from Montreal.
“I’ve been gone from Canada for 20-something years and now I’m coming back and seeing the show, it’s fantastic,” he said.
“I ran away with the circus, Cirque de Soleil, and during my 20-year career, I started Thinkwell in Los Angeles. This is really the first project (in Canada) and really, it’s kicking off our effort to increase our businesses in Canada, in the museum, theme park, attractions, corporate events, branded experiences.”
Niagara Parks’ newest attraction opened to the public with daytime guided and self-guided tours on July 30.
Through repurposed artifacts, interactive exhibitions and interpretive installations, guests learn first-hand how this hydropower pioneer harnessed the power of Niagara Falls to generate electricity.
Built in 1905 as Canadian Niagara Power Generating Station, the facility is the only fully intact decommissioned hydroelectric plant of its period left in the world, said parks officials.
The facility was decommissioned in 2006. Niagara Parks acquired it three years later.
Supported by the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, the entire revitalization project was made possible through a $25-million loan from the Ontario government ($5 million was used to create the night show).
Adames said the agency anticipates paying back the loan in 10 years. Within the first five years, parks officials expect 1.7 million people to visit the attraction, generating a net surplus of $22 million, and 60 jobs.
Phase 2 of the attraction, expected to open next summer, will provide visitors access to the underground infrastructure of the power station, with a glass elevator taking visitors 55 metres below the generator floor to explore the 610-metrelong tailrace tunnel that empties at the base of the falls.
“We had many goals for the adaptive reuse of the power station. We wanted to have both a daytime and a nighttime experience to showcase the power station in different ways,” Adames said.
“The daytime experience is about guided and self-guided tours, learning more about the generator hall and the plant itself. The evening experience is meant to extend the visitor stay at Niagara Parks, in the destination as well, hopefully even driving overnight stays, but back to our purposes is to animate and activate the power station in a different way.”
For more information about the attraction, as well as ticket information and hours, visit niagaraparks.com/power.