Snow Show and Dancing Waters draw crowds at Green Arrow Nursery

Hollywood is a stone’s throw away from Green Arrow Nursery in North Hills, Calif. Taking a cue from its neighbor, the store uses movie technology to create eye-catching displays.

For the past two years, Green Arrow has staged a holiday Snow Show that includes realistic faux snow, lights and synchronized music. The spectacle draws crowds who are unaccustomed to the white stuff. This spring, Green Arrow launched another theatrical display, Dancing Waters. Soaring jets of water, also synchronized to music, entertain shoppers in the annuals area.

Both shows are the brainchild of Brian Mendoza, creative developer at Green Arrow Nursery. Mendoza spent three years working for the Disney empire before being hired at the garden center. Displays he saw in the theme park inspired the shows he has designed for Green Arrow. Disney has a knack for producing events that appeal to children of all ages, and Mendoza has tried to replicate this on a smaller scale.

The Snow Show

The curtain rises on the Snow Show at the end of October when Green Arrow begins displaying Christmas merchandise. By this time, Mendoza has already been hard at work for two months rigging the area and adjusting the computer program that runs the show.

This is no amateur setup. The Snow Show requires a laptop computer that controls the lights, music and laser display. Stage-quality lights are hoisted into place and a sophisticated snow-making machine is programmed to produce flurries at the appropriate time.

“The machine uses a soap solution that’s not harmful to plant material or people or slippery on the floor,” Mendoza said. “It’s siphoned up and blown out. It’s not real wet.”

The show automatically runs every half hour during evening hours in November and December. Customers can view from four to nine shows, depending on how late the store is open on a given night. Green Arrow purchased all the equipment needed to stage the event. Now, Mendoza said, each show costs roughly $5 to produce -- the cost of the snow solution used by the machine.

Green Arrow promotes the Snow Show in its newspaper ads and in its popular online gardening gazette. Cashiers also hand out fliers as people go through the checkout during the day. This has helped spur word-of-mouth buzz.

“People who purchased Christmas items during the day returned for the evening and actually returned with the whole family,” Mendoza said. “Twenty or so would come on the weekend with different family members just to see the Snow Show.”

Dancing Waters

Playing off the success of the Snow Show, Green Arrow introduced its Dancing Waters display this year. The store carries a full line of Laguna water gardening products, most of which are used in this production. The 80-by-3-foot rectangular pond is packed with 22 water effects that go off in time to the music.

“Dancing Waters will go year-round, so you’ll always have something to look forward to when you come to Green Arrow,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza plans to add underwater lights in time for the holidays so Dancing Waters can run in the evenings along with the Snow Show.

Paying with popcorn

The Snow Show at Green Arrow Nursery isn’t a simple or cheap endeavor. The store’s creative developer, Brian Mendoza, said a nearby mall pays a company $75,000 to stage a similar snow show over a six week period.

Green Arrow purchased all the technology needed to run its snow spectacle with proceeds from a popcorn machine. Customers can buy a bag of popcorn for $1 at a self-serve vending machine. Kids love it because they get to see the kernels fall into the burner and hear the popping of the corn.

Mendoza estimates the machine brings in $1,800 over a six-month period. The store spends less than $70 on supplies. Labor costs are negligible. You simply have to refill the machine occasionally. The overall payoff is big.

“We noticed parents aren’t in a hurry to leave the store, and the kids are occupied,” Mendoza said.

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For more: Green Arrow Nursery, (818) 894-8306; www.greenarrownurseries.com; www.ktga.tv.

- Sarah Martinez

August 2008