Oak Orchard Lighthouse gets ready for first light show

Lights and equipment installed to create a Northern Lights effect on lighthouse

Photos by Tom Rivers: Chris Manaseri, president of the Oak Orchard Lighthouse Museum, holds one of the four larger light fixtures that will be installed in the ground at each corner of the lighthouse, with each capable of illumining two sides of the building. There will be 192 smaller lights up top on the lighthouse on the parapet around the light.

POINT BREEZE – A team of volunteers have spent the day installing lights and computer equipment at the Oak Orchard Lighthouse so the iconic site at Point Breeze can display a light show resembling the Northern Lights.

The first half-hour show is expected to go on after the sunset this evening around 9 p.m. The Oak Orchard Lighthouse Museum wants the first one to be tonight on National Lighthouse Day.

The OOL Museum received a $5,000 grant through the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council to hire IlluminFx Lighting Systems in Rochester for the display. That company has created lighting displays for the Alamo, a battleship in Wilmington, NC and the nearby Churchville dam in Monroe County.

A.J. Hetzke, owner and general manager of IlluminFx Lighting Systems, programmed a show that will create the swirling green, pruple and blue lights of the Aurora Borealis. He also programmed about a dozen other displays for holidays, including a orange-themed one for Halloween, green for St. Patrick’s Day, pink for Valentine’s and several others.

Hetzke said the lighting projects add “immeasurable value” to sites that are already much loved by their communities.

A.J. Hetzke (left), owner and general manager of IlluminFx Lighting Systems, hands off a string of 48 lights to go on the west parapet near the top of the 32-foot-high lighthouse. Museum volunteer John Vandemortel, right, installed the lights along strips of metal that were placed on the parapet on Wednesday. They are up in the top of the lighthouse which was built in 2010.

John Vandemortel, left, and Board VP Larry Albanese work on getting the lights secure at the top of the lighthouse.

Albanese said the light show should bring more attention to the lighthouse as well as Point Breeze.

“It’s an opportunity to bring people up here who haven’t been here before,” Albanese said.

David Giacherio, left, and Chris Manaseri dig one of the four holes for the corner lights. It was tough digging with a hard ground.

The lighthouse was built in 2010 as a replica of one from 1876. That original lighthouse toppled from a windstorm in 1914.

Manseri said he is eager to see the light show.

“It will be vibrant and changeable,” he said. “It should mimic the effect of the auroras.”

The museum board plans to have the half hours shows nightly through the end of October. The board will consider feedback from the community. After the half-hour light shows, the building will be illumined all night with a low-level white light.

A.J. Hetzke of IlluminFx Lighting Systems meets with museum volunteers this afternoon in the main room of the lighthouse. They discussed their plan for installing lights and digital equipment. Clockwise from right of Hetzke include Larry Albanese, Gregg Squicciarini, John Vandemortel and Chris Manaseri.

David and Cheryl Giacherio work on getting another hole dug. Cheryl Giacherio pushed to get the lighthouse illumined after seeing photos of the lighthouse during a breath-taking Northern Lights display from May 10, 2024.

Cheryl Giacherio said the new light show will allow more people to feel the wonder of the Northern Lights, even if it’s recreated through the light show.

“Seeing the photos of the Northern Lights at the lighthouse was our inspiration,” she said. “We thought wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone could see and experience it.”

The Oak Orchard Lighthouse is shown on May 10, 2024 during a dazzling display of the Northern Lights. The spectacle in the sky has inspired the lighthouse’s board of directors to pursue a light show on the structure.