Blucifer Blazes Across Denver’s Night Sky

Drone Show Lit Up Downtown For 40 Nights This Holiday Season

Story and photo by Reid Neureiter
For the GPHN

Denver’s numerous annual holiday light displays had a new spectacular addition this year – the Mile High Drone Show.  

For 40 nights beginning Nov. 22 and continuing through Dec. 31, more than 400 multi-colored drones launched from the sports field at the Auraria Campus, just southwest of downtown, performing 15-minute animated holiday light shows. The drones flashed on and off, changing colors as they glided into different glowing formations nearly 400-feet high and 500-feet wide.  

Images included Denver’s iconic big Blue Bear staring into the Convention Center, as well as Blucifer, the wild blue mustang seen while driving to Denver International Airport. The drones even formed the tent shapes of Denver’s main airport terminal, with the figure of an airliner taking off behind the giant blue horse. 

The figures were not just static. The drones were programmed with choreographed movements, giving the appearance that the giant colorful figures were moving through the night sky. One impressive figure was a giant rotating red-bodied pterodactyl wearing a Santa Claus hat, flapping wings, and a beak that opened and closed.  

The performances concluded with Santa and his sleigh arcing across the sky, dropping animated presents. The show was sponsored by Visit Denver and presented by the Denver-based company Brightflights Drone Shows.