Visitors Saw Niagara Falls in a New Light This Month
Throughout 2025, the Niagara Falls Illumination Board (NFIB) has been marking its centennial anniversary — a milestone that commemorates 100 years since the Falls first became lit every evening. These nightly illuminations are used not only to add a majestic visual to the intense power of the water, but also to honor global causes, notable calendar events, and cultural moments.
The celebrations have included a large event in June to commemorate the first lighting of Niagara Falls with timed fireworks, and other activities throughout the summer.
The final celebrations were held last week between September 12 and 14, where a Pharos Designer LPC X (Lighting Playback Controller X) augmented the existing Pharos system to deliver a synchronized audio output for a unique presentation. For many years, the Falls have been illuminated every night with the use of a four-universe Pharos Designer LPC, but this special anniversary show is the first time a sound and light show has been created for the natural phenomenon.
Three 30-minute displays took place per night, starting with the national anthems of both countries that the Falls crosses: Canada and the USA. The Falls were bathed in the colors of each nation, followed by a short history of the Illumination Board and the different technologies employed before the advent of the current LED-based fixture system.
Visitors were then treated to a 20-minute music medley, with the LED lighting being complemented with laser projections on the rock-face of Goat Island, situated between the Horseshoe Falls and the U.S. Falls.
To bring this to life and deliver frame-accurate synchronicity of the lighting to the music, Pharos lent an LPC X for the duration of the celebrations as it has audio output capabilities. The existing LPC project file was easily adapted to give patch and programming to the LPC X. Audio files were uploaded as part of the show file and placed on the same timelines as the lighting presets to ensure easily coordinated programming. Designer’s Music Timelines also allowed presets to be positioned according to bars and beats in musical time to guarantee even finer orchestrated accuracy with lighting effects. Lighting and music data from the LPC X created an output in perfect harmony as timelines were played back, for a seamless sensory and immersive experience.
Additional installation and integration for this was coordinated through Pathway Connectivity, specialists in DMX network solutions. Pathway Connectivity have programmed the Pharos system, while Linus MacDonald has acted as lighting consultant to support the creation of the events.
The LPC X also controlled four independent laser projectors integrating with the Pangalon Beyond Laser system from FFP Lasers of Oakville. NFIB rented ruggedized fiber from PRG to extend the Pathway VIA network to the laser position deep in the Niagara gorge along the river’s edge.
A public address (PA) system spanning 2,000 feet was installed along the Niagara Parkway sidewalk to pipe sound over the Pathway VIA network using Dante throughout the park, while the whole show was monitored online from the SixEye cloud solution to enable seamless control and responsive troubleshooting. A large video screen was erected on the U.S. side of the Falls with a large PA, so visitors on American soil could enjoy the celebrations too.
Michael Grosse, Regional Sales Manager for the Americas at Pharos Architectural Controls, noted, “Niagara Falls is one of the most-famous global landmarks and projects, both in respect of scale and visual appeal, to use our products. To know a system from Pharos is illuminating one of the most visited sites in the world every evening, gives you a huge sense of pride.
“We were honored to provide the technology to make these centenary celebrations happen. The scalability of a Designer system made it a simple proposition to drop an extra controller onto the network and into the project file to fulfil the temporary requirements for these festivities and to illuminate the Falls in such a grand and captivating way — bringing together visual and audio effects,” he said.
Robert Bell of Pathway Connectivity added, “The Pharos Designer LPC has been integral to the success of the illuminations of Niagara Falls since we upgraded the system in 2020. We were therefore delighted that Pharos were more than happy to support the anniversary celebrations with the generous loan of an LPC X. We’d particularly like to thank Pharos CEO Simon Hicks, and MG, for coordinating this activity and for their continued support.”
The anniversary celebrations have been organized by the Niagara Falls Illumination Board, which is made up of representatives from the City of Niagara Falls Ontario, City of Niagara Falls, New York, Ontario Power Generation Inc., New York Power Authority, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and The Niagara Parks Commission. It is the Illumination Board’s responsibility and mandate to finance and maintain the nightly illumination of both the Horseshoe and American Falls.
The NFIB was formally established in February 1925. The Board managed an initial budget of $58,000, which was used to install 24 state-of-the-art arc lights. These powerful lights, mounted near Horseshoe Falls, were originally developed as searchlights for Britain during war-time air raids and each used 4,500 watts to illuminate the cascading water.
Project Credits
Lighting Controls: Pharos Architectural Controls
Programming, Network and SixEye Integration: Robert Bell of Pathway Connectivity
Laser Programming: Dave Nash, FFP Laser Systems
Cloud Support: Jack Neill of Pharos Controls
Lighting Consultant for NFIB: Linus Mac Donald
Music Medley Composition: Drew Waters
U.S. (Goat Island) Video & PA: Dave Guilford, Ripe Audio
Trans-border RF Link: Craig MacDonald, RF Wireless
Canadian PA: Brandon Jary, PYNX Audio
Temporary Fiber Network Extension: PRG
Network: Pathway Connectivity Via switches and Pathport gateways
Backup: Pathway Connectivity Vignette
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