What does it take to turn Dallas red?
Welcome back to the Mailbag!
If you were in the Metroplex last weekend you probably noticed a lot of red lights in the skyline and, if you're a Red Raider, you probably knew what it meant.
The entertainment was first class thanks to a couple of Red Raider greats and it sure seemed like everybody had a blast.
Of course, any time we get to take all this Texas Tech talent on the road and show it off is a good time, but the Dallas event was pretty special.
Dallas and Fort Worth have always been Red Raider strongholds, and it was good to see that not much has changed. But looking at all the images from the night it occurred to me that the stars at night, usually all big and bright, were kind of being drowned out by a whole heap of red lights.
Texas Tech University took center stage in Dallas with the Stars At Night Centennial event, and we put on quite a show.
Seeing the Dallas skyline lit up in Texas Tech colors was amazing, but it did get us wondering just how that came to be.
How long did it take to plan the event? Who in Dallas did we have to talk nice to get the skyline turned red? Did somebody have to change all those light bulbs by hand?
So, as we do, we reached out to the man in charge of such events to find answers.
As it turns out, it took a good while and came together at just the right time.
“I started this process a year ago and that involves making requests of each of the buildings,” Director of Centennial Coordination Blayne Beal said. “There were an incredible amount of hoops to jump through but no changing out light bulbs. All these buildings are designed for light shows.
“It was a lot of back and forth and some of the buildings even required a proclamation from the Mayor's office, which thankfully we had. It all finally fell into place late last week. Just in time!”
Anybody who reads this little column regularly knows from time to time, once in a while, every now and then, we like to hand out a bit of praise to the people here at Texas Tech doing big things.
So, to Blayne and all the others who are putting in long hours to make sure the Centennial is special and that people all over get to celebrate it with us, a round of applause for pulling this one off.
And if you missed it, check out the video below embedded here to get a little taste of what they managed to accomplish.
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