One of the first displays that attendees of Butch Bando’s Fantasy of Lights will see this season is a promotional display for Recreation Unlimited that was created by welding students at the Delaware Area Career Center.
The display was created by the senior welding students at the DACC and Dante Bando, the owner of the light show, over several weeks. The display depicts a child in a wheelchair shooting an arrow at a present, which explodes. The display was created for Recreation Unlimited, a local nonprofit “serving individuals with physical and developmental disabilities and health concerns.”
Bando said he enjoyed working on the project with the seniors, and they only lit up the child part of the display in the lab. He added, “I was like a little kid” waiting to light up the rest of it.
“It was well worth the wait,” Bando said Tuesday evening in front of the completed and fully lit display.
Bando worked with students last year as well to create a display for the show. He said the students he worked with this year were juniors last year and didn’t really know what to think of the project.
“No one knew what to expect,” Bando said. “But they were great. It’s so intricate. It was a learning curve for everyone, but it’s a great display. I’m eager to see what the juniors come up with next year. I hope they keep trying to out-do themselves.”
Bando said the students worked with deadlines during the project and hoped they learned a lesson about work and management that they can take to a job in the future.
“There are real world applications for what they are doing,” Bando said. “I’m incredibly proud of them.”
Recreation Unlimited CEO and Executive Director Paul Huttlin was on hand Tuesday to see the display be lit up. He said the display was “fantastic!”
“I’ve been through this display show many times and to see something that represents Recreation Unlimited in such a prominent area was just heartwarming,” Huttlin said. “It’s not just a donation to us, it’s exposure — showing our name and our program in such a fun way. It’ll be great exposure for our organization for the thousands of people who come through.”
Huttlin said he was mostly hands-off of the design, and he thought the child shooting the area is appropriate because archery is one of the programs offered by Recreation Unlimited.
“I thought it was excellent,” Huttlin said before expressing his gratitude to the students. “Thank you very much. You did a fantastic job.”
Huttlin said he hopes people will learn about Recreation Unlimited and take steps to learn about more local organizations.
“I think it’s important for everybody to know different charities and what they do,” Huttlin said.
“Recreation Unlimited has been around for many, many, many years, but for people coming into this marketplace, it’s new. It’s important that they created this and how it will help us as an organization and make this show more fun.”
Butch Bando’s Fantasy of Lights opens Friday, Nov. 16. More information can be found at http://butchbandosfantasyoflights.com/
