The Shrimpy NYE drop was already a beloved annual tradition in New Smyrna Beach. Every year, a giant shrimp character drops at midnight near Brett's Waterway Cafe, the waterfront's answer to Times Square's ball drop. The community loved it. But the organizers wanted to take it to the next level.
That's where we came in.
The Brief
The call was straightforward: redesign Shrimpy. Give it more visual punch, more presence, more glow. The existing character had charm, but the organizers wanted something you could see from across the waterway. Something that would photograph well. Something that would make the whole event feel bigger.
I took the pirate shrimp concept and reimagined it with LED integration, a more dynamic silhouette, and the kind of personality that makes people stop and stare. The updated design was born in a sketchbook and refined in about 48 hours.
Designing a Character That Glows
Shrimpy isn't just a sculpture, it's a character. The pirate hat, the expression, the posture, all designed to be instantly lovable and slightly ridiculous in the best way. Here's the thing about public art: if it takes itself too seriously, it misses the point. People want to smile. They want to laugh. They want to stand next to something absurd and take a selfie. That's the actual job.
The LED integration enhances the character without overpowering it. Glowing eyes give Shrimpy life at night. LED spine lines trace the body's silhouette so you can read the shape from hundreds of feet away in the dark. The lighting is bold but not over the top, it's character lighting, not a rave.
Construction and Installation
We partnered with our friends at habRitual for the physical build. The body is carved and shaped foam with a durable exterior coating, built to handle outdoor conditions while staying light enough for crane mounting. The internal structure supports all the LED wiring and hardware, and it's designed so we can install and remove it for multiple events without destroying anything.
For the NYE event, we crane-mounted Shrimpy on a boom with a blue LED ring around the mount point. Below the boom, a glowing fishing reel, sponsored by Florida Public Utilities, added another layer to the whole visual story. The full assembly was this towering, glowing spectacle that dominated the waterfront skyline and gave the crowd a focal point for the countdown.
The spot near Brett's Waterway Cafe meant visibility from both land and water, which was key. When you're walking the waterfront and you see a 20-foot glowing pirate shrimp against the night sky, you know exactly where the party is.
Leveling Up a Local Icon
Shrimpy was already a community favorite, but the redesign took it to a different level. The LED glow, the scale, the crane-mounted spectacle — it transformed a fun local tradition into something cinematic. News coverage exploded. Social media posts from the event reached audiences way beyond New Smyrna Beach.
That's what a good redesign does. It doesn't replace what people love, it amplifies it. "Meet me at Shrimpy" was already part of the local vocabulary. Now it comes with photos that actually do the experience justice.
Marketing Scalability
One thing I designed for from day one was scalability beyond the physical piece. Shrimpy's character design works across everything:
- Flat cutout versions for year-round signage and wayfinding
- Merch-ready artwork: t-shirts, stickers, hats, koozies
- Social media graphics and event branding
- Smaller versions for indoor display and photo ops
One character design, done right, becomes a whole brand ecosystem. The physical LED installation is the flagship, but the merch and marketing extensions are where the long-term value builds. News coverage of the original event generated reach that no ad budget could touch, and every piece of merch extends the story further.
"The best public art doesn't just decorate a space, it gives a community something to belong to."
What Shrimpy Taught Us
Shrimpy is proof that experiential art doesn't have to be serious to matter. Not every installation needs to be a meditation on light and space. Sometimes the most impactful thing you can build is a giant glowing pirate shrimp that makes people laugh and brings a community together on the last night of the year.
If you've got an event, a venue, or a community that needs a character, something with LEDs, visual punch, and real personality, we'd love to hear about it.
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