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Denver International Airport’s elaborate welcome display got off to a rocky start after it flicked on the flashy 1,000-foot installation five years ago, dogged by glitches and breakdowns. Now part of it has gone dark again — this time, because thieves made off with key equipment.
DIA said Friday that it reported the theft to the Denver Police Department, describing the missing items in a news release as electrical components “necessary for the operation of our easternmost digital welcome sign.”
It’s unclear when the theft happened, but the release says it was discovered Friday morning.
The display in the grassy median of Peña Boulevard features two curving arrays made up of 908 LED rods that pulse and undulate ribbons of moving light. Set among them are three 48-foot-wide digital screens that display airport messages and advertising — two oriented to incoming eastbound traffic and one facing outbound traffic.
The airport invested $11.5 million in the display, which debuted in 2017, and inked a $3 million agreement for 12 years of maintenance with Panasonic Enterprise Solutions, which designed the showpiece.
Controversy first greeted the airport’s decision to spend so much money on a welcome sign, and then the display itself, which some charged was too bright and too distracting at night.
Five years later, the display is part of DIA’s sprawling landscape.
And it’s begun making money for DIA. In the first three years since ad management company Outfront Media began handling placements in March 2019, advertising on the three screens brought in $2.5 million, before Outfront took its one-third cut, DIA spokeswoman Mindy Crane said. The pandemic depressed sales, she said, but they’ve been on the rise since last year.
While DPD investigates the theft, the airport has shut off the screen on the eastern array and is working on a repair plan. Crane says it’s likely to be back up sometime next week.
“The other inbound sign and the outbound sign (both on the west array) are not impacted and are working as normal,” DIA’s news release says.
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