ADJ 7P HEX IP LED Pars Illuminate Pop-up Mini Golf Event At New York’s Vanderbilt Museum

The Vanderbilt Golf Classic AKA Vandyland was a candy-themed pop-up mini golf experience that enjoyed a successful month-long run earlier this year. Kicking off the 2021 season at New York’s historic Vanderbilt Museum & Planetarium, the attraction included after dark sessions that combined an animated video show projection-mapped onto one of the museum buildings with a game of mini golf vibrantly lit by an arrangement of ADJ LED pars.

Redmax Events LLC, an event production and entertainment company based on Long Island, was responsible for developing and bringing to life the Vandyland concept on behalf of the Vanderbilt Museum. Established in 2016 by DJ, percussionist, and entrepreneur Brandon Havrilla, Redmax began supplying DJ and photobooth services but over the years has developed into a full-service event company. As well as furniture and décor rental, lighting and AV production, and entertainment services, the company specializes in custom projects and brand activations which involve bringing together various services and creative ideas to produce one-off bespoke events and promotions. Brandon and his team love the challenge of being given an idea or vision by a client and making it happen, which is how they first began to partner with the Vanderbilt.

“Since I was a kid, I’ve always done Halloween displays on the front lawn of my parent’s house, sharing the pictures online,” explains Brandon. “Over the years this got bigger and bigger, and I continued posting the photos on social media. One of the Event Coordinators at the Vanderbilt Museum saw what I was doing on Facebook and reached out to Redmax last fall to see if we could produce a Haunted House event for them. It was something they’d been looking at doing for a while, but they didn’t have the capacity to produce it in-house. I was completely honest with them and said that we’d never done a Halloween attraction on that scale, but I felt we were up to the challenge, and they were happy to let us give it a try. It worked out really well, the Haunted House was very successful and that started our relationship of working with the Museum.”

Directly following the successful Halloween run, the Redmax team continued to partner with the museum to produce their ‘Bright Lights’ holiday event. This saw the whole property decorated with Christmas lights and enhanced with a variety of themed displays and festive experiences. This solidified the relationship between the museum and Redmax, which meant that Brandon and his team were given a blank canvas to come up with ideas for a Spring event to kickstart the venue’s year. Initially the team were thinking along the ideas of a Candyland walkthrough experience for kids, but while doing online research Brandon came across a permanent Candy-themed mini golf course in another state. This seemed like the perfect way to develop the Candyland concept into something that would attract visitors of all ages and when the idea for a pop-up candy-themed mini golf event was pitched to the museum team they loved it.

Initially Brandon and his team planned to fabricate the mini golf course themselves, however they found a purpose-built modular system which they decided to invest in and Redmax is now the only company on the East Coast to offer it to the rental market. For Vandyland, the team deployed their new mini golf system with a whole host of custom-made props and other theming elements to create a truly unique experience. Brandon also partnered with another company to produce the projection-mapped video display on the museum building, which encouraged patrons to visit the attraction in the evening. This meant that the course would need to be illuminated and, as Redmax didn’t have suitable IP-rated fixtures in their existing inventory, this led to another investment in ADJ LED pars.

“I reached out to my friends at I DJ NOW, as well as directly to ADJ, to discuss what the best option would be,” confirms Brandon. “As the lighting fixtures were to be left outside for a month, we not only needed something IP-rated but also that would be very durable. On top of that, we wanted fixtures that would be versatile as we’d be adding them to our rental inventory after the event. All our up-lights have HEX LEDs, with that great UV element, so that was another box we really wanted to check. We considered the ADJ 12P HEX IP but in the end decided to go for more of the smaller 7P HEX IPs. Even though we like the 12Ps too, and plan to also invest in those at some point in the future, the 7Ps were the right choice for this project as they allowed us to almost hit each individual hole separately to create a rainbow of candy colors across the lawn.”

With an all-metal construction, the 7P HEX IP is a versatile, heavy duty LED par fixture. It features an arrangement of seven potent 12-Watt 6-in-1 HEX LEDs, which each combine red, green, blue, amber, white and UV elements to allow for unrivalled color mixing potential. It offers a 30-degree beam angle and is fitted with a robust scissor yoke, which can be locked securely into place using convenient bar-shaped handles and used either as a floor stand or hanging bracket. Its IP65 rating means that the fixture’s case is protected against rain, snow and dust, making it suitable for temporary outdoor applications in any weather.

“We have found the 7P HEX IPs to be very impressive fixtures,” enthuses Brandon. “They are very bright and have a really nice tight beam angle which means we are able to throw the light over quite a long distance. We were also super impressed with how they held up to the month outdoors. Although we were fortunate to have good weather on almost every day Vandyland was open, there was quite a bit of rain in between weekends and the temperature dropped pretty low. But we had no problem with water getting in the fixtures, no corrosion to the cases, in fact they still look brand new! We absolutely love them and want to add a bunch more to our inventory going into Halloween and Christmas.”

For the Vandyland project, the Redmax team deployed twelve 7P HEX IP fixtures throughout the area of lawn use for the 18-hole mini golf course. Each set to a different vibrantly saturated color, the fixtures not only illuminated the course but significantly enhanced the candy theming causing the whole event to have an even more magical atmosphere after dark. Already a longstanding ADJ user, this purchase of IP-rated LED pars has further cemented Brandon’s trust in the brand.

“I’ve been an ADJ fan right from when I started out as a DJ. Back then it was derby lights but as the company has grown, and we have moved into lighting production, ADJ’s products have been there to support our growth. We’ve always been super happy with the build quality of ADJ fixtures and these new IP units take it to another level. We love ADJ!”