From our sister site The Waterland Blog:

On Tuesday night, July 4, 2023 at around 10 p.m., if you were looking towards the night sky for the annual fireworks show over Des Moines, instead you probably something different – an aerial drone show.

This was the first such large aerial exhibition of its kind over Des Moines, put on with 175 or so drones that made spectacular displays via computer programming – all without explosions, pollution or chemicals raining down into Puget Sound.

Different 3-D displays included:

  • Flying bird
  • Mountain sunrise (or moonrise?)
  • Fish jumping out of water
  • Lighthouse
  • Totem
  • Canoe being paddled
  • Octupus with moving tentacles
  • Flag with fireworks
  • Rotating Star
  • Liberty Bell
  • Statue of Liberty
  • Orca whale
  • Finishing with “Happy 4th Des Moines

The show was produced by KC from Sky Elements, and hundreds of people packed in and around the marina and nearby areas to watch.

PHOTOS

Below are photos of the show courtesy David Rosen:

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VIDEOS

Here’s video of the full drone show (running time 11-minutes, 46-seconds):

And if you like old-fashioned fireworks that blow up real good, here’s a drone video showing them over South King County, courtesy @SeattleWAGuy:

Scott Schaefer

Founder/Publisher/Editor. Three-time National Emmy Award winning Writer (“Bill Nye the Science Guy”), Director, Producer, Journalist and more...