Rainbow for Youth, Las Cruces September 21, 1996

This rainbow was a real celebration for the kids of Las Cruces running through a rainbow. The Cruces Fire Department provided a great crew and a fire truck with a telescope for elevation. Flow rate was around 1000 gallons per minute.

For Immediate Release Photos Available

September 19, 1996

Las Cruces Rainbow to Celebrate the Opening of the Court Youth Center

Today, Silver City artist and rainbow maker, Fred Stern, worked with the Las Cruces Fire Department to iron out the kinks for a natural rainbow to close the Mayors Block Party celebration of the opening of the Court Youth Center on Saturday. The rainbow will take place at 5:00 P.M. in front of the center at Court off of Alameda, if the sun shows up.

Stern uses fire fighting equipment to create an artificial rainfall which disperses the sun's light to create the rainbow. He has created rainbows in support of global unity and peace all over the United States, in Europe and South America

Stern said he sees the Las Cruces rainbow as a sort of award for the town of Las Cruces and Mayor Ruben Smith. They have taken a strong stand for the power of art, education and sports as a support system for the youth of their city in creating the Center. The rainbow will be created when the sun's light breaks through an artificial rainfall from water pumped into the air.

During today's rehearsal Stern met with two of the Las Cruces Police Captains and was very impressed with the support they give the center. The center has already started channeling some spray paint graffiti kids into an air brush class. This class is creating the banners for Saturday's event. Other Center students have realized an impressive mural.

Stern says "It is all a breath of fresh air when most communities see themselves in a battle with the youth of their town, with law enforcement as the primary solution. When our own Federal Government has cut the National Endowment for Arts budget to a point of being ineffective, Las Cruces has invested in the power of the arts for their youth. I hope that they are the first of the towns in our state and then the nation to understand the possible impact these centers can have on our children and the future of our world. A definite 5 star rainbow award"

Stern's most recent rainbow created for Japanese National Television was viewed by 15 million people in Japan last month.. The 12 minute segment opened with a minute of images from last year's Silver City Flag Day Rainbow. The program then went on to document the design and realization of Stern's rainbow over the United Nation Building created for New York City school children on June 8 of this year. The UN rainbow represented the realization of a long term dream for Stern, in that it showed the rainbow, or the planet's flag, flying above all nations' flags. Stern dedicated the piece as a visual metaphor for Global Unity and World Peace.

Stern has plans for an El Paso rainbow to bridge between the United States and Mexico to serve as a visual metaphor for the bond between our two nations.