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Date: 12/9/2020
WEST SPRINGFIELD – Frank Campiti, of Campiti Ventures, is producing a “holiday extravaganza” with a special-effects company from California.
This event, known as a “Winter Wonder Drive-Thru,” is a “COVID-safe, family-friendly spectacular, featuring lighting, special effects, and 3-D holograms,” according to the press release.
Attendees will drive through the Better Living Center building at the Big E, and “enjoy an immersive holiday display.” The event is being produced by the same company who hosted the Drive-Thru Halloween Spectacular in Suffield, CT, in October.
According to Kate Campiti, her husband Frank is the brainchild behind this holiday production for the Big E. After using the hologram technology for the Halloween event in Suffield, Frank and the California production company decided to use the same technology for this event at the Big E, especially after the Halloween one received such a large positive reception.
“What they did was they took three physical pumpkins, and they set them up on a bench, and they mapped the technology,” said Campiti. “Through projection and 3-D technology, the pumpkin came to life. They had faces, and they talked to each other, and sang songs.”
Frank and company also incorporated a ghost hologram that would fly through a pavilion, and come back to the audience as a way of entertainment during the Suffield event.
“Taking that idea, and knowing that with the current state of things … [Frank] has decided to take this idea for the holidays,” said Campiti.
According to Campiti, the Big E was the “perfect” partner for the Winter Wonder Drive-Thru, especially since they have had such a tumultuous year with the pandemic.
“The Big E, as everyone knows, has had a tough year,” said Campiti. “So this fit within the safety and precautions for all of the COVID-safe events that could happen.”
While residents are driving through the horseshoe pattern of the Better Living Center, they will witness elves packing and making gifts through hologram projection, a lighting show, and a snow machine that makes clean snow, according to Campiti.
With the hologram technology, attendees will also see huge snowman singing and talking to each other, as well as Santa flying around with his reindeer.
“It’s something that this region has never done,” said Campiti. “I don’t know if anyone in the country is doing a Christmas drive-thru in this way.”
The event will run until Jan. 3, 2021, and tickets are available on the Eastern States Expositions website for $15 per vehicle. Residents can visit https://www.easternstatesexposition.com/winterwonder to find more ticket information.
“It’s a bummer … families can’t get together for the holidays,” said Campiti. “So this gives something for families of all generations to look forward to.”