When popular dinner cruise boat the Star of Louisville was forced to change her berth on the Ohio River, the owners quickly discovered that moving the boat a mile down and across the river to Jefferson, IN, was a lot easier than communicating the new location to their customers throughout Louisville and the surrounding area.
"We spent thousands on advertising," said Bernie Kaelin, general manager of the 130 ft floating restaurant, which serves up to 325 people and has been offering luncheon and dinner cruises on the Ohio since 1987, "but every day people would call us from the other side of the river, wondering where we were."
Finally, one of the owners, David Evanczyk, suggested that a lighted sign be placed atop the 3-story building that sat on the Star's landing barge. Design bids were solicited, but none of the traditional methods seemed appropriate.
"Fabrication costs for neon were outrageously high," said Kaelin, "and in our visibility tests, it didn't show up that well at all."
Then Chris Kanemitsu of Energy Tech 21 proposed a design made from an entirely new LED-Flex™ lighting material that offers the same appearance as traditional neon lighting, but requires less energy, is more flexible and durable, and can be used in many applications where neon is not appropriate. From Mule Lighting, Inc, of Providence, RI, LED-Flex is a system of durable UV-protected tubes lined with LED lamps for illumination. The system is flexible enough to bend up to 180 degrees, and provides a user-friendly alternative to delicate, glass-based neon bulbs.
"LED-Flex was recommended as the most effective, lowest maintenance alternative to meet their needs," said Kanemitsu. "LED-Flex from Mule contains no harmful gases, making it safe to handle, and it can be custom cut and shaped on-site, without the need for specially trained personnel."
The result of the LED-Flex choice was a new star for the Star of Louisville, a full 20 ft high illuminated star that sits on two 12 ft posts atop the landing barge building. Fabricated by David Evanczyk, the original builder of the boat, the star sign is easily visible from up to 2.5 miles away.
"We debuted the new sign on April 23 on the night of the Thunder Over Louisville fireworks festival," said Kaelin. "There were 500-750,000 people across the river, with one of the fireworks barges right between us and them. With our new star shining over the whole scene, we haven't had any trouble with people finding us ever since."
