From an article printed in PPB (Promotional Products Business) May 2002

By John Wolf, Executive Vice President - Crystal Magic, Inc.

In late October of last year, we were asked to exhibit our laser-etching technology for 21 days at a "special" event, which turned out to be the Anheuser Busch "Bud World Party" during the 2002 Olympic Games, in Salt lake City, Utah.  Held at the Gallivan Center, a park located in downtown Salt lake City, the Anheuser Busch-event theme was "High Technology" and featured light, glass and fire, which coincided perfectly with the Olympic theme, "Light the Fire Within."

The event's producer felt Crystal Magic's laser-etching technology would fit in well with the other event exhibitions, which included on-site glass blowing demonstrations by the Corning Glass Museum and the fantastic light shows by Creative Time, the company that helped to produced the "Tribute in Light" at the New York City World Trade Center site.  This event covered more than a city block and included a hockey-sized skating rink, large stage, exhibitions, merchandise tents, beer gardens, sports bars, barn for the Anheuser Busch Clydesdale horses (which paraded through the city each day) and two 50-foot TV screens showing closed circuit and network broadcasts of Olympic events. There was also live entertainment every night, including the rock band, Smash Mouth, who played the first night.  Next to our exhibit was a Sea World exhibit with Siberian tigers, bald eagles, large snakes, penguins and other animals.  Olympic gold medal winner Tara Lipinski was among the athletes at the skating exhibitions, and the Bud Ski Team gave ski jumping demonstrations on a large ramp.  We were located in a large tent with heated glass walls and plenty of room for the laser systems, displays, computer equipment as well as the staff of 10 we brought from our production center in Florida. Arriving in Salt Lake on February 5, just three days prior to the opening ceremony and only a few days after the PPAI Expo in Dallas, the staff was excited and full of high expectations about working and seeing many Olympic events.  We were a little worried our lasers and other equipment, totaling more than 8,000 pounds would end up lost in some far-away place and questioned how we would be able to setup in the freezing weather.  Fortunately though, the delivery was right on-time and everything worked great.

We used our laser etching systems with digital images of booth attendees to etch 2-D and 3-D faces and full body images inside solid crystal.  In addition we made 3-D busts for members of the U.S. Hockey Team, including the team captain Chris Chelios, a member of the Detroit Red Wings and Brian Rafalski of the New Jersey Devils.  Chelios liked his crystal etching so much he returned with a box full of beer (Budweiser, of course) for our entire staff.  Also visiting our exhibit were 1997 snowboarding World Champion Sondra Van Ert and the women's U.S. Curling Team, who presented us with limited edition team pins.

We had a constant stream of VIP's into our exhibit. President Bush was expected to attend a reception hosted by Senator Orin Hatch held adjacent to our event, but we heard the secret service canceled due to security concerns. My big chance to meet the President disappeared, but we did do an etching for the mayor of Salt Lake City, Rocky Anderson.

Over the 21 days, we were interviewed seven times by major network TV stations from across the country and were a news item on the local stations almost everyday.  By the time the Olympic torch was extinguished, we had produced more than 2,700 crystals.  It was an honor to be at the event, experience the Olympic spirit and to see our U.S. athletes do so well.   We were so overwhelmed by the demand for our crystals that only a few of our team were able to take any time off or attend any Olympic events!  Needless to say, after working 14-hour days for the 21 days straight, we looked forward to returning home.  Would we do it again? You bet! Though exhausted, we departed Salt Lake City on February 26 with lots of great memories. PPB

John C. Wolf is Executive Vice President of Crystal Magic, Inc. (UPIC: MAGIC).  Mr. Wolf can be reached at 904-372-4011 jwolf@crystalmagic.com