Everything is bigger and better this year for Fourth of July celebrations in the Jewel.
La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club at La Jolla Shores is no exception, as the club is returning with its 4th annual drone show, which this year has been upgraded and renamed “La Jolla Sky Show.”
“Two hundred and fifty years ago, a nation was born. This July Fourth, La Jolla marks that milestone the way it does everything — with its eyes on the ocean and something extraordinary in the sky,” said sky show organizer, Jim McInerney of Jim McInerney Real Estate.
McInerney noted this year’s show, choreographed to live music broadcast on the beach and live-streamed in full on La Jolla Sky Show’s website, will start at 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, July 4.
“The beach is the seat. The sky is the stage. And the night is free —because this community makes it so,” he added.
Produced with Drone Studios, promoters note the show is eco-friendly, being “quieter than fireworks and leaving nothing behind — no ash, no echo, only the memory of light,” added McInerney.
Each of the 500 vehicles moves by GPS, a choreography months in the making, which will be visible from La Jolla Shores Beach, Coast Walk Trail, Scripps Park, Kellogg Park, and the hills of Mount Soledad.
Originally founded by Bill Kellogg of La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, the Sky Show has quietly grown into one of San Diego’s most anticipated summer nights.
McInerney noted the drone event has truly gotten better – as well as bigger — with each passing year.
“The first show was 100 drones, the second was 200, and last year it was 500,” he said. “This year we’re doing 500 again. We are now also using the latest generation of drones that are smaller and brighter, putting out more luminescence. The show moves faster, flows better.”
La Jolla Sky Show will be about 15 minutes long and will be accompanied by patriotic music choreographed by Ron Jones, the voice of La Jolla. “We’re setting up a whole bunch of loudspeakers on the beach at La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.”
McInerney says the best places to view the show will likely be from Kellogg Park nearby, as well as bluff properties along La Jolla Cove and on nearby Mt. Soledad.
“It is important to note that we put on this event, which costs about $60,000 but is free to the community, because it’s paid for by private donations,” said McInerney. “We’ve raised $41,000 of that amount and are still looking for more donations.”
Sponsors and donors make this night possible, and their contributions are tax-deductible through the LJ STEAM Foundation (www.ljsteam.org), a San Diego-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to education in La Jolla. To become a sponsor or make a donation visit lajollaskyshow.com.
