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Hollywood in the Heart of Baltimore?
Baltimore, MD - March 2, 2004 - Hot wire carving of EPS? Urethane hardcoat? Water-spouting Neptune Friezes? Maquettes? What's a maquette?
A recently signed 2 year contract with the All Star Challenge contract required the creation of two giant Neptune head friezes that shoot water from the mouths, measuring 12-foot tall and 8-foot wide and weigh 350 pounds each.
According to Greg Huyck, production manager, Fandango Special Events, this project was no small feat. "The salesperson came to me and asked me if we could make the giant Neptune heads. Fortunately, with my background in film and television production, I knew the right people and the right techniques," said Huyck, former project manager for the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. "I immediately flew in Mike Levitre, a former associate of mine from Hollywood, and we started the project." (Levitre has worked on movies including Jurassic Park, Men in Black, and The Flintstones Movie. Before flying into Baltimore to work with Huyck, Levitre was sculpting 12' tall statues for the recent Oscars.)
"We are operating at 100% production capacity here, our busiest March ever." stated Huyck. "I needed [Mike] here because I just didn’t have the time to design the heads, design the fountain mechanics, and lead the art/production staff on fabrication. We have a great crew of fine and talented sculptors, but they just hadn’t produced on this scale before. Now they have."
John Paulsen, warehouse manager, Fandango Special Events, added that due to the enormous size of the friezes, extra space needed to be found in the Fandango warehouse. "We have 80,000 square feet of warehouse and production space, and we are completely maxed out. We had to do some major re-arranging to accommodate fabrication space for these monsters!" He added, "But we are thrilled to add them to our inventory. They are quite extraordinary."
The All Star Challenge is planning on using the giant Neptune head friezes and at for "The Return to Atlantis" challenge, in Baltimore, April 2004, and in Jacksonville, FL in 2005.
The All Star Challenge hosts the Cheer and Dance National Championships each year in several locations on the east coast.
Fandango Special Events is a Baltimore-based full-service event design, production, and management company with an impeccable regional and national reputation for producing innovative signature events