Bureau Resists Spruced-Up Laser Light Show

The chamber of commerce wants to spruce up the laser light show that projects onto the face of Grand Coulee Dam every summer evening, drawing hordes of tourists.

But the dam’s owner, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, is balking, even though the chamber has offered to come up with money from a corporate sponsor.

The sound-and-light laser show tells the story of the Columbia River, dam construction, electricity and other dam benefits, with patriotic elements.

The show is intended as an educational tool, not a tourist draw, the bureau said.

Laser tubes will be replaced to make next summer’s show brighter, but the bureau has no plans to change the content, spokesman Craig Sprankle said. An estimated 450,000 people flock to watch the laser display each summer.

The Coulee Dam Business Alliance, a committee of the chamber, meets Saturday to discuss a new show. Dave Schmidt, former chamber president, is spearheading the effort.

“We have asked the question - if money is a problem, and it usually is - if it’s possible to look for corporate sponsors to help pay for it, and the response has been one year of resounding silence from the bureau,” Schmidt said.

Sprankle said the bureau would not likely approve corporate sponsorship.

The laser light show debuted in May 1989 after Congress appropriated $785,000.

Schmidt said he believes the show is getting dated. It soft-peddles the fact that the dam killed salmon runs upstream and doesn’t appropriately tell the impact of its construction on American Indians.

“I think David is looking for a reason to do a new show,” Sprankle said. “It’s not Salmon 101, but an overview of the whole project. It’s a 36-minute show so you can’t do a lot on any one subject. It touches on a lot of things the dam does.”