The "Bakowski Bridge of Lights" illuminates the Red 2/22/22

Come "2sday," Feb. 22, 2022, the "Bakowski Bridge of Lights" will debut on the Texas Street Bridge, brightly uniting Shreveport and Bossier City for years to come.
The Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC) invites Northwest Louisiana residents to to celebrate the art installation opening. The event — appropriately themed "TIE THE KNOT on the Bakowski Bridge and LIGHT your way to HAPPILY EVER AFTER" — welcomes couples to unite in marriage — or commitment — 90 feet above the Red River in a massive wedding ceremony. Vow renewals, including those who married upon the Neon Bridge in 1993, are also encouraged to participate.

"Sixty-four couples were married during the Neon Nuptials when the lights turned on for the first time in 1993," said Pam Atchison, SRAC's executive director. "When the plans were in place to renovate the bridge in a sustainable, maintainable and brighter way using programmable LED lights, we asked what might we bring back from 1993 to involve as many people as possible in a creative way."

The answer? A massive, inclusive celebration, unlike anything the region has seen.

"With the Christmas season being a great time to get engaged, what's better than having a proposal under holiday lights and getting married under LED lights to light up your love?" said Atchison.

The wedding ceremony and vow renewal event will occur under a wedding light show culminating in fireworks designed by Broadway light designer Jason Lyons and Academy Award-winning filmmaker William Joyce.

"It will be like nothing I have ever done before — a fundamental shift in our skyline, turning the bridge into a light sculpture in a dynamic, ever-changing way and pushing technology as far as we can push it to see what we can accomplish," said Joyce.

Shreveport-Bossier native Ashley Henning and her fiancée, Christopher Clarke, were the first to sign up to Get Hitched on the Bridge.

"Having our wedding planned for us is perfect, and I like the fact that it's to the year of our engagement date," said Henning. "We met at the end of that bridge — it's like the bridge between our souls. Plus, it's on 2/22/22; the numerology is perfect — it only comes around every 100 years. And I couldn't think of a better way to go out than stopping traffic under LED lights."

Henning, the executive assistant at Margaritaville® Resort Casino in Bossier City, looks forward to having a front-row view of the soon-to-be-lit bridge. She has also worked with SRAC since 2004 through its biennial Christmas in the Sky event and has led break-dancing classes at Artspace. Henning remembers when the bridge was first lighted in 1993.

"I can't wait to see how it turns out in 2022," she said. "I know the council never disappoints."

For $222.22, a couple will receive a wedding ceremony or vow renewal, plus:

• Four "Glo Buttons" to the bridge (one for each partner, plus two for two guests of the couple).

• A bridal flower and groom boutonniere.

• A "Glo" necklace for the wedding party.

• A reception complete with a wedding cake installation by Christmas in the Sky designers adorned with individual cupcakes for the couples and a champagne toast.

• The first dance for all couples under the specially designed LED light show.

• Two wedding photographs.

• A staging/dressing area at the Riverview Convention Hall.

• A private party on the bridge until 9 p.m.

• And a drawing for the grand prize honeymoon weekend sponsored by KTBS 3 News.

Winners of the honeymoon weekend (Feb. 25 and 26, 2022) will receive a deluxe balcony room overlooking the "Bakowski Bridge of Lights" on the Texas Street Bridge. The weekend includes a dinner for two at Jimmy's Steakhouse and breakfast in the Riverview Café.

Another way to participate in the art installation's unveiling is to adopt one of the bridge's light bars. For $222.22, a Northwest Louisiana resident can adopt a light of their chosen color for a year. Light shows displaying the individual lights are set to illuminate the sky in 2022. The Bossier Arts Council and SRAC will debut the new lighting designs of the "Bakowski Bridge of Lights" starting next summer with a series of Red River Glo Fests that will take place on the first Friday of each month on alternating sides of the Red River.

Adopters of lights plus one guest are welcome to attend Get Hitched on the Bridge.

Finally, SRAC invites all couples married on the bridge to renew their vows on "2sday," Feb. 22, 2022, under the "Bakowski Bridge of Lights" on the Texas Street Bridge at no cost.

Funds from Get Hitched on the Bridge will create more light shows and educational programs for area students. Fifth-grade and high school students from Title I schools and students of Southern University at Shreveport, Bossier Parish Community College and Volunteers of America's Lighthouse Program will complete a training program led by Keith Hanson, chief technology officer and smart cities director for the city of Shreveport. Hanson is the primary IT professional programming the lights for the bridge.
"I will have the opportunity to mentor young minds in art and technology to hopefully catapult them into a new career," said Hanson. "That's game on for me!"
Approximately 50 students will become certified bridge designers and light programmers, creating new jobs in Shreveport-Bossier.

Hanson is excited about multiple pieces of the Bakowski Bridge project, especially a 10-foot model to be created to allow his team of programmers to push artists' animation from the computer screen to the model before bringing it to life on the "Bakowski Bridge of Lights."

"This event has been so long in the waiting; it feels like a culmination," said Atchison. "It's been a discouraging time for the whole world because of the pandemic. I think Shreveport-Bossier has taken it pretty hard with some businesses shutting down, the restaurants having such a difficult time, and events coming to a halt. The thing about a wedding is, all the family comes to a wedding. So the idea that the residents of Northwest Louisiana — not just Shreveport-Bossier —see themselves as one big family coming to see the opening of the bridge, and in doing so, everyone will come together on 2sday, 2/22/22, and commit to be a bright light for all of us."

The "public art arm" of the city of Shreveport is largely due to a $1M donation from Dr. and Mrs. George Bakowski that 375 Color Kinetic LEDs by Signify Lighting Company will interactively illuminate 2,982 feet of what opened in 1934 as the Long-Allen Bridge.

Additional funding for the Bakowski Bridge of Lights on the Texas Street Bridge comes from the Red River Waterway Commission, the Louisiana Public Service Commission, the Shreveport Downtown Development Authority, the National Endowment for the Arts and Will Atkins. Learn more at gethitchedonthebridge. corn.