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The original 4-D animatronics show, which was unveiled in 2010, featured Col. Edward Deeds, Charles F. Kettering, John H. Patterson and Orville and Wilbur Wright.
The gang’s all back, but this time, they aren’t just positioned in a line with a black box as the backdrop. For the new show, the figures tell their stories in historically relevant settings.
“We joked that it was kind of like a Dean Martin cocktail party up here,” said Brady Kress, president and CEO of Dayton History and Carillon Historical Park. “We wanted to get more in-depth with their environment and place each one in a context they would have been seen in.”
Kettering is at a work bench in Deeds’ barn, trying to develop a self-starter for the automobile industry.
The Wright brothers relax in their living room at 7 Hawthorn Street, preparing for the big homecoming parade in downtown Dayton.
Deeds, CEO of NCR and Carillon Park’s founder, stands in a space modeled after the Corliss engine building and discusses how he collected artifacts to first open the park in 1950.
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Patterson gives a presentation in a tent at Sugar Camp, where he famously used to give the first-of-its-kind sales training.
“When guests see this and sit through it, we hope they leave with a lot more information than when they arrived and a larger appreciation for Dayton,” Kress said.
Items and equipment on stage spring to life at various points during the 17-minute presentation, which runs every half hour. Props include a sewing machine, a Frigidaire, lathe and bicycle.
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One of the newest additions is also the cutest. Orville’s furry friend, Scipio, chimes in at various times during the presentation. Scipio lived at the Hawthorn Hill home.
“With each one of these, we’re trying to tell a story that we are not elaborating on in other places in the park,” Kress said.
The park welcomes about 235,000 visitors each year.
The revamped show and theater, called “Build for Tomorrow,” is presented by the late Rita and Gayle B. Price Jr.
The Price family funded the upgrades. Gayle B. Price is the former president of the Price Brothers Co.
Carillon Historical Park is a 65-acre campus that showcases the history of invention, transportation and early settlement, officials said. The park has 32 buildings, which consists of a mix of original historic, reproduction and representative structures.
On Friday, a variety of other new exhibits open to the public, including one dedicated to NCR’s Building 26, where they developed a machine that cracked the Nazi’s U-boat encryption code. Other exhibits feature artifacts from and the stories of James M. Cox, Henny Penny Corp. and PK Lumber.
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