Client: Village of Millerton 175th Anniversary
Location: Eddie Collins Memorial Park, Millerton, Dutchess County, New York
Date: Friday, July 17, 2026
Fleet: 235 drones
The Occasion
Millerton grew up around the railroad that arrived in 1851. In July 2026 the village turned 175, and it marked the milestone with nine days of events from July 11 to July 19: a parade, live music, a car show, a comedy night, a community fair and, on Friday night, a drone light show.
The village’s own event page called the fair “the best seat in Millerton for the Drone Light Show,” and the show anchored the celebration’s biggest night.
The Show
Hire UAV Pro flew 235 drones over Eddie Collins Memorial Park on Friday, July 17, alongside the village’s fireworks. Pairing the two is a smart format for an anniversary: the drones deliver the message, the milestone and the imagery, and the fireworks bring the traditional finale.
What Makes Anniversary Shows Different
- The sky can say something. A drone show can write the anniversary, the year or the town’s name above the crowd, which no fireworks display can do.
- Sized for the audience. At 235 drones, the fleet was matched to a community park crowd rather than a stadium, which keeps the show impactful without overspending.
- Planned around a multi-day event. The show slotted into a nine-day schedule, with setup coordinated around the fair already running on site.
- Handled end to end. Airspace authorization, FAA Part 107 certified pilots, custom show design and $10 million in insurance.
Why Towns Choose Drones for Milestones
Anniversaries, centennials and founders’ days come around once. A drone show gives a town a moment built specifically for it, with its name and its story in the sky, rather than a generic display. That is why they have become a go-to for municipal milestones, and why many towns pair them with fireworks rather than choose one or the other.
Planning your own town celebration? See our guide to adding a drone show to a fair or festival, our New York drone light shows, or how drone shows compare with fireworks.
Why Towns Pair Drones With Fireworks
Millerton did not choose between the two — it ran both on the same night, and that is increasingly common for anniversary celebrations. The logic is straightforward: the drone show carries the meaning, spelling out the milestone, the village name and imagery specific to the place, while the fireworks provide the traditional finale. Neither has to do a job it is bad at.
Sizing a Show for a Village
At 235 drones, this was sized for a community park crowd rather than a stadium, and that matters for budget. A village of a few thousand does not need a 1,000-drone fleet, and spending on one would buy impact nobody standing in Eddie Collins Memorial Park could actually perceive. We size the fleet to the viewing distance and the audience, not to a brochure number.
Planning Around a Nine-Day Programme
The show sat inside a week and a half of events, with a community fair already running on the same ground. That constrains setup: the launch zone had to coexist with an event in progress, and the site survey accounted for how the crowd would be distributed by showtime rather than how the park looks when it is empty.
Anniversary and Milestone Shows
Numbers, founding dates, village names and civic crests all read clearly at 200 drones and above, which makes drone shows a natural fit for centennials and bicentennials. We fly them across New York and nationwide. For planning, see our guide to drone shows for fairs and festivals, the cost guide, or drone show rental for what is included.
Planning a fair, festival or anniversary? Tell us your date, venue and audience and we will send a custom concept and exact pricing within 24 hours. Request a proposal.