Pulse Stage Lighting Supports Shore Reopening Ceremony

As part of its dedication to helping restoration efforts at the Jersey shore following the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, Pulse Stage Lighting, a leading New Jersey-based provider of high quality lighting, audio, video, and staging services, proudly provided critical production support behind the special ceremony and concert held in Seaside Heights on May 24 to officially reopen the Jersey shore for the summer 2013 season. The special event involved an appearance and ribbon-cutting ceremony by Governor Chris Christie and was televised live by NBC's The Today Show.

In preparation for a live musical performance by the band Fun, speeches by Christie and local dignitaries, a Guinness Book record-setting 5.5-mile-long ribbon cutting event, coverage by Today Show anchors Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, and Al Roker, and attendance by 3,000 - 4,000 residents and visitors, the Pulse Stage Lighting team oversaw production of a 800'-by-12' road on the beach leading to an 80'-by-50' platform and 32'-by-24' mobile stage. Risers were also built to house sound and lighting control staff and equipment. The two-day job involved several members of the Pulse Stage Lighting crew as well as 24 workers from IATSE Local 21, who provided the additional labor required to help complete the complex job in the short time allowed.

"The project was very challenging and labor intensive, and other vendors were reluctant to take the job," says Pulse Stage Lighting vice president Bob Suchocki. "We took it on not only because we knew we could get the job done successfully, but because we wanted to be a part of this historic reopening ceremony at the shore. Though others said no, we weren't afraid to say yes, and everything went smoothly and as planned with only 48 hours notice."

"The Jersey shore means everything to us," agrees Pulse Stage Lighting president Scott de Villers, who started Pulse Stage Lighting 22 years ago by providing lighting and stage production services to bars and concert venues throughout the Jersey shore, including the legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park. Today, more than two decades later, many of the company's summer jobs are still at the Jersey shore, where Pulse Stage Lighting remains the in-house lighting vendor to the Stone Pony and supports such other renowned venues as the Wildwood Convention Center and Jenkinson's in Point Pleasant.

"We're delighted to see Seaside and other shore points hard hit by Sandy back in business," de Villers says. "It feels great to be part of this restoration and to help show that we're stronger than the storm."