How "Wiz" and his Norfolk company are entertaining with drones

The Nebraska State Fair opens today in Grand Island. At the end of the night the entertainment switches from ground to air, with the fair’s first ever drone show. Meet the Nebraska company creating the show and learn how they tell stories in the sky.

A year ago, 90,000 people in Memorial Stadium were treated to things they’d probably never seen before. The historic outdoor volleyball match. But also, afterwards, colored lights in the sky forming shapes like the state of Nebraska, a volleyball, and the letter “N.” All courtesy of lights on the bottom of 200 drones.

“When we were tearing down and we were over out in the back of the practice field, we had the gates open at that point, people were walking by and heard comment after comment,” said Don Wisnieski. “They couldn't figure out how did we get that screen up there. ‘Well, it's not a screen. There's 200 drones sitting over here.’”

Wisnieski and his Norfolk-based company, Fantasy Drone Shows, created the Volleyball Day show and many others. Since the company launched about three years ago, it has been all over the United States, sometimes doing shows in two different states on the same night.

“It's really kind of cool because I get up in the morning and a lot of times can't wait to get to the office and check my emails, because that's how a lot of the requests come in through our website and stuff like that," Wisnieski said.

Wisnieski, better know as “Wiz,” grew up in a farm family that did Fourth of July parties with lots of fireworks. He’s had a Norfolk construction company for more than three decades with lots of side businesses. He's also been in charge of the city’s Independence Day fireworks show almost as long.

“Unbeknownst to me, people call me a big entrepreneur here in Norfolk," he said. "And I never thought of it that way because I was just doing what came naturally and doing something more and doing something different."

When the entrepreneur with a passion for creating entertainment in the sky was approached about pivoting to something relatively new, Fantasy Drone Shows was born. It’s headquarters is a large metal building on a hilltop acreage outside Norfolk that also includes the family home. Wiz’s wife Jolene is part of the business with four other employees.

To show how they do what they do, the team created a show for Nebraska Public Media earlier this year.

Location comes first. Brian Anderson sits in front of two computer monitors. Google Earth on one, an VFR aeronautical map for pilots on another.

“I will come into these maps here and take a look and see what kind of airspace we're working with,” Anderson says. He looking at things they can’t fly near or over, like airports or moving traffic. He’s also finding a place that provides the best view for the audience.

Then Scott Buss builds the show in a computer program. It’s similar to graphic design, building the shapes and setting how the drones move and light up with different colors. The program provides an accurate view of what it will look like in the sky. The six-minute show they’re creating includes an American flag, Fantasy Drone Show logo and other things.

“We can kind of tell a story with drones," Buss says. "So it's tying all those images together to make it flow and make it kind of tell what we want to tell."

Then it’s all hands on deck for the evening set-up. Crates of drones packed in protective plastic cases are wheeled out, opened and loaded with batteries. They put up a ground station nearby. A computer and suitcase of drives and connectivity on a table, next to a 10 foot pole of antennas that Ben Uzzell sets up.

“The signal goes from the computer into the interface box, into the antenna, sends the information out to the drones,” Uzell says.

Wisnieski uses a tape measure to lay out the 16 by 12 drone grid in an open, grassy area. Drones with four propellers and a light that changes color are placed a couple feet apart. The base station checks connections. Buss gives a countdown, clicks launch on the computer, and a swarm of 200 drones launches into the night sky.

The show is likely the easiest thing the Fantasy Drone Show team will do all year. But it’s a good example of the cross between technology and creativity it takes to pull this off.

Anderson left a job teaching college broadcasting classes to join “Wiz” with Fantasy Drone Shows.

“I think just the fun and the excitement,” he said. “I really like working with drones and new types of technology, but there's also that level of creating something for an audience that really awes them, that gives them a really great feeling of something that they've seen. That's incredible.”

“You hear the old adage if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life,” Buss added. “I hate the cliches and all that, but it's true here. I don't mind coming here every day. This is fun to me. We travel. I like to see other places, see other towns, other states, other countries. So we get to do that. It's a party wherever we go. There's live music there. There's all this stuff going on. I mean, there's nothing about this that isn't fun.”

Outside the office where Wiz talks with customers hangs a plaque celebrating Volleyball Day.

But he’s hardly resting on that accomplishment.

Create shows at national monuments when America 250 celebrations happen in a couple years? He’s already working towards that. Create shows at the Super Bowl and U.S. Capitol? ‘Wiz’ dreams big.

“It really has taken off almost exactly how I was thinking on day one, if we did this, this, and this, and this is going to happen, and how are we going to scale it? When are we going to scale it accordingly? It's all really working out the way we were thinking from day one,” he said. “I couldn't be having more fun doing this. This is just great.”

This story was produced as part of Nebraska Public Media's "What If..." project. It will be part of new episodes of the television series on innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship in Nebraska that will premiere early next year. Learn more about "What If...: HERE