The Grand Haven Musical Fountain Committee told City Council on Dec. 1 that the fountain’s physical systems and production library are in a stronger position heading into the off‑season and that committee volunteers have procured new lighting and built replacement choreography software.

"The fountain is in better shape than it's ever been," said Jerry Troke, chair of the Musical Fountain Committee and president of Friends of the Musical Fountain, summarizing repairs, a redesigned control system and completed winterization. He told council the committee completed routine maintenance, rebuilt pump No. 3 and replaced the computers that store and play nightly shows.

Troke said the committee scheduled 110 shows during the season and staged 107 (two weather cancellations and one technical cancellation). He reported crowd counts increased to more than 64,000 attendees (excluding two fireworks nights), up from about 54,000 the previous year, and said social media followers rose from roughly 25,000 at season start.

Brad Boink, who designed the new choreography software and is the committee’s lead trainer, explained the replacement was prompted when the legacy software was no longer supported. He said contracting development quoted roughly $82,000 but he built a real‑time simulator and toolset using donated AI credits and volunteer time. "I designed the choreography software," Boink said, adding the committee will offer trainings after the new year.

The committee confirmed LED fixtures have been procured and are in storage for installation during the off‑season; each new fixture is roughly 2.5 times brighter than the units it will replace and expands the color palette for shows. Troke and Boink invited council members to behind‑the‑scenes tours and volunteer training opportunities and announced a committee opening created by Sarah Calio’s election to council.

The update included a fundraising and volunteer recruitment plan tied to the LED upgrade and software rollout. Committee leaders asked residents interested in volunteering to sign up through ghfountain.org or ghmfsoftware.com.