Published
For the Year of the Dragon, LA Chinatown’s Golden Dragon Parade drew crowds along North Broadway. A research team sponsored the day and set up a stage in a parking lot by the route, so that more people would stay to hear its talks. We built the stage’s LED wall, sound and lighting in an open lot, and kept it running on power that was not ours.
At a glance
- Event
- The 125th Golden Dragon Parade, Year of the Dragon
- Place
- An open parking lot near the parade route, Los Angeles Chinatown
- Dates
- Built February 16, 2024; event February 17, 2024
- Client
- A research team that sponsored the event
- Our role
- LED wall, sound and lighting for the stage
- LED
- Gloshine Legend 3.9 outdoor, 5 × 3 m (16.4 × 9.8 ft)
- Power
- Supplied by the client: a larger towable generator replaced the first one
- Crew
- Four
The brief
The Golden Dragon Parade is LA Chinatown’s Lunar New Year parade, and 2024 was its 125th. Our client, a research team, sponsored the day and took a parking lot beside the route for a stage of its own, where its people gave talks to the parade crowd.
We supplied the stage’s LED wall, sound and lighting, and the crew to build and run them. Power for the site was the client’s to provide.
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Challenge 01
An open lot, and a night in between
The stage stood in an open parking lot, outdoors, with the street closed for the parade on the day. So we built everything the day before: the stage, the 5 × 3 m outdoor wall and the lighting truss.
Then all of it stayed on site overnight, in the open, ready to switch on in the morning. An outdoor-rated panel, Gloshine Legend 3.9, was the right choice for a wall that would spend a night in the lot and a day in the sun.
Built on Friday, switched on Saturday morning.
For the 125th Golden Dragon Parade in Los Angeles Chinatown on February 17, 2024, PixelPro Productions supplied and ran the LED wall, sound and lighting for an outdoor stage in a parking lot near the parade route, for a research team that sponsored the event to bring an audience to its talks. The wall is a 5 × 3 m Gloshine Legend 3.9 outdoor LED, bright enough for daylight. A crew of four built the stage, wall and lighting the day before and left everything on site overnight in the open lot. Power came from the client: their generator was too small for the load and kept tripping, until a larger towable generator was brought in.
Challenge 02
A generator that kept tripping
Power was the client’s to supply, and the first generator was too small for the stage’s load. It kept tripping, and every trip took the wall, the sound and the lights down with it.
A larger towable generator was rented and brought in, and the problem went away. Size the generator to the whole load, LED, sound and lighting together, with room to spare.
Outdoors, the power is part of the show.
Challenge 03
Parade day
On February 17 the street closed in the morning and the parade came down North Broadway in the afternoon. The stage ran through the day, with the talks on the LED wall and the speakers on our sound.
The result
- A 5 × 3 m outdoor LED wall, sound and lighting on a stage beside the Golden Dragon Parade.
- Built the day before by a crew of four, left on site overnight, running the next morning.
- Stable power once a generator sized to the load replaced the first one.
How we run LED, sound and crew for events is on our event AV production page.
The same outdoor wall is in our rental stock: see LED screen rental.
Questions about outdoor events
Can an LED wall be used outdoors in daylight?
Yes, with an outdoor panel. At the 2024 Golden Dragon Parade in Los Angeles Chinatown, PixelPro ran a 5 × 3 m Gloshine Legend 3.9 outdoor LED wall on a stage in an open parking lot, built the day before and left on site overnight.
What size generator does an outdoor LED stage need?
One sized to the whole load, LED, sound and lighting together, with room to spare. At the 2024 Golden Dragon Parade the client’s first generator was too small and kept tripping; a larger towable generator solved it.
Can you set up the day before an outdoor event?
Yes. For the 2024 Golden Dragon Parade a crew of four built the stage, the LED wall and the lighting the day before, left everything on site overnight in the open lot, and switched it on the next morning.
