Davenport Installs New Light Shows In Skybridge

There's some new special effects coming to downtown Davenport.

Back in May, the Figge Art Museum installed a light show called Evanescent Field to honor the museum's centennial celebration. It became the largest public art installation in the state of Iowa and has been captivating to watch at night.

Now, the city of Davenport is responding with even more illumination.

The Davenport Skybridge just had it's lighting system upgraded, according to a release from the city, from end-to-end of the bridge. This lets it have more intense colors and programmable light shows.

The new lighting in the Skybridge is funded by the same Destination Iowa grant package that's backing Main Street Landing, the 10-acre riverfront park that's currently under construction.

Davenport's city council awarded a $408,000 to Crawford Company to do the Skybridge work.

Davenport says that now, as soon as you get off the elevator into the Skybridge, the new lighting experience begins. The lights used to be focused only on the inside of the bridge but now, the show extends from the elevator on the north end down to the south tower.

The light shows are scheduled to sync up with the National Weather Service's daily sunrise and sunset times. The lights will start 30 minutes before sunset then transition to soft white 30 minutes after sunrise.

There's a standard daily light show that will play routinely, then there are holiday-themed shows that rotate through the seasons. The Christmas one will last until January 3rd, 2026. The next seasonal show will be for Valentine's Day, which will feature red and pink lights.