When an estimated 800,000 people gather at the U.S. Capitol and on the National Mall to watch Donald Trump take the oath of office on Friday, most will witness it by focusing on the large LED screens scattered around the event.
For the fourth straight presidential inauguration, a Tarrant County company is providing the service for the spectators.
“We must have done a good job because they called us back,” said Chris Curtis, founder and CEO of GoVision, which is based in Argyle.
The company deployed 18 large LED screens to this event including the two large ones flanking the stage. Each measures 19 feet by 33 feet. For perspective, the screens are almost two stories tall by three stories wide.
Curtis said 11 of the 18 screens are part of the official swearing-in ceremony, which an estimated 800,000 people will attend. Six other screens are at an undisclosed location, he added, and a final one is set up for a party at the Canadian Embassy.
“The large screens flanking the stage were at the college football championship on Monday night and put on a truck and sent to the capitol by Wednesday morning,” Curtis explained. “And they’re leaving there and heading to the Super Bowl in Houston.”
Curtis said he has 22 employees traveling to Washington, D.C. who work closely with the U.S. Capitol Architect’s Office, the National Parks Service, FBI, U.S. Secret Service and the Inaugural Committee.
GoVision also provides large LED screens for the PGA, Final Four tournaments, and Super Bowls.
The Trump inauguration set-up is “a little bit more complex because of the logistics with the security and number of screens is pretty high,” Curtis said.
The most complex set-up was inauguration day in 2008, he continued.
“We did Obama’s sendoff in Chicago in the morning, the inauguration in D.C. at noon and then Bush’s arrival in Midland that night. We had the whole thing covered,” said Curtis.
