The Mike Foster Multi-Purpose Center got a huge upgrade last week with the addition of a new LED video wall to the auditorium stage of the facility. The addition was made possible through a Tennessee Tourism Enhancement Grant.

Suzanne Williams, Director of the Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce, addressed the County Commission last week during their monthly meeting on Monday, and showed off the new device. Williams wrote the grant for the project, while Jeff Nokes, owner of Nokes Technical Services Group (NTSG), installed the screen.

The video screen can be used for stage performances and productions, adding digital videos, backgrounds, and animations to presentations. According to Williams, plays and productions can use the screen rather than conventional props and backdrops.

During the meeting, Nokes played YouTube videos of scenic places and aerial shots from around the world, shot in 4K (HD Video). He also demonstrated different background animations of snow an American flag.

“The Chamber wrote two Tourism Enhancement Grants,” said Williams. “The first one was for the Smithville Jamboree, and it was for $75,000. We were needing a new stage, backdrop, skirting, and all the fixings for the Jamboree stage. And then we wrote another Tourism Enhancement Grant the same year for the county complex for a digital backdrop.”

The County match for the grants were $7,500 each, along with cost overruns.

“It’s a 34’ x 8’ LED wall, with a 16-inch hip wall above the floor,” Nokes explained. “The LED wall consists of 400 panels. The way it works is that the computer goes to a processor which sends a signal over an Ethernet cable to the screen. Anything a computer can generate it can be displayed on this LED wall.”

According to Nokes, a trained technician must be on site and scheduled by the county complex staff to operate the system during events.