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Winter
WonderFest Lights up the Pier
 With
the help of Chicago Scenic, Navy Pier transformed Festival Hall
into a breath-taking winter wonderland for their second annual Winter
WonderFest this past holiday season. Sponsored by LaSalle Bank,
thousands of visitors came to see the hundreds of professionally
decorated trees, a canopy of lights made of tens of thousands of
Christmas lights, a 42-foot-tall Christmas tree, and many other
festive decorations. Young and old alike came to enjoy the ambiance
and holiday entertainment and take part in the activities, games,
and inflatable rides provided for the event.
Chicago Scenic was charged with the master design, construction,
and installation supervision of the event, along with providing
the contract and construction manage-ment for the project. CSSI
Designer Tom Ryan designed the enormous attraction and worked closely
with Navy Pier’s Gail Steffen, director of convention services,
along with Tony Camarillo and Sherry Caruso to bring the event to
life. Project Managers Ross Hamilton and Rick Boultinghouse, along
with projects trainee Dave Kiana, supervised the project from design
to dismantle. CSSI Job Leads Andy Lemerand and Nick Levinsky provided
both in-shop and on-site supervision.
 One
of the biggest attractions was a huge new indoor ice rink. Nearly
Olympic size, the rink stretched over 150 feet long by 70 wide and
was decorated with an extra large disco ball that glittered throughout
the event. Large-scale inflatable activities and rides were also
a big hit with guests. With over ten super-vised inflatables to
choose from, kids could go down giant slides, through an obstacle
course, and rock climb on two huge rock walls. The inflatables were
custom-designed with Winter WonderFest colors and theming, and purchased
from an England-based company specifically for the event.
CSSI procured and supervised the installation of several special
rides for Winter WonderFest as well, including a full-size indoor
musical carousel and trackless electric train that took adult and
child riders on a tour of a winter village built on Festival Hall’s
floor.
 Other
special activities included the Winter WonderFest Performance Stage
which was loaded with non-stop entertainment and provided an area
where children and adults could relax while watching a show, and
a new Santa’s Mountain, where Santa and his elves greeted
kids atop a huge ice mountain. The ice mountain was built and painted
in CSSI’s shops and assembled onsite, complete with a spiral
slide that kids could go down after their visit with Santa.
This year, Navy Pier debuted an entirely new section to the event
called Extreme Winter WonderFest. This impressive new attraction
was located in Festival Hall B and featured in-line skating and
a skate park with ramps. Chicago Scenic also contracted and pur-chased
other fun activities for the Extreme Winter WonderFest area, that
included more inflatable rides, a 5-n-1 bungee jumping trampoline,
the popular rodeo reindeer (a ride similar to a mechanical bull),
and rental spandex panels for additional ceiling décor.
Once again, the event was very successful and drew more than double
the number of guests as last year’s event. Visitors can look
forward to an even bigger and better event next year.
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