SOUTH BEND — “The lights are like sprinkles,” an exuberant 4-year-old Sylas Rader said after watching dozens of lighted drones make pictures in the night sky over the St. Joseph River.
And so, 2025 began — well, five hours early — at Howard Park.
For at least 10 minutes, the drones and their multicolored lights rearranged themselves into different images that celebrated the old year. And kids called out what they were.
Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Olympic rings. Like the Statue of Liberty next to a “VOTE” sign. And like the No. 22 Indiana Fever jersey of women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark.
Drones create a light show across the river from Howard Park in South Bend as visitors watch on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 2024.
The sprinkling rain seemed to pause when the New Year’s Eve show from Chicago Drone Light Shows took to the sky Tuesday. But the dampness didn’t keep the park from filling up with ice skaters and families who just came to watch the drones.
Sylas and his family came because they’d never seen a drone light show, his mom, Tori Rader of Niles, said with her husband and their three young children and some friends.
“I was super excited,” the boy exclaimed, feeling accomplished. “I need a prize.”
Drones create a light show across the river from Howard Park in South Bend as visitors watch on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 2024.
Such shows are coming on as a unique and quieter replacement for fireworks around the country, which the city typically has put on for New Year’s Eve. South Bend Venues Parks & Arts likewise hosted a drone show for this summer’s Fusion Fest. And the city of Mishawaka recently hosted a holiday drone show, too.
A recent mishap with drones at such a show in Orlando, Fla., caused a drone to fall and critically injure a boy who was watching. It spurred a Federal Aviation Administration probe and the cancellation of other shows around the country.
But the show at Howard Park had the drones lift off across the river and far from crowds — without mishaps.
Molly Riemersma and her husband brought their kids, ages 5 and 9, after having watched the Mishawaka show. The kids like the drones better than fireworks, she said, because they’re scared by the noise of fireworks.
Drones create a light show across the river from Howard Park in South Bend as visitors watch on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 2024.
“We didn’t realize they’d do the retrospective,” her sister, Sarah Fuller, visiting from Pittsburgh, said. “We really liked that.”
Luis Velasquez of South Bend and his wife brought their 4- and 5-year-old sons because none of them had ever seen a drone show. They’d seen videos online, but never in person.
“It’s something really different,” he said.
The drones’ parting message to the crowd came like a text message: “CYA IN 2025.”
Drones create a light show across the river from Howard Park in South Bend as visitors watch on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 2024.
South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: New Year’s Eve drone light show at Howard Park dazzles families