Let It MagicSnow!

By Brendan Kiley 

This year, my holiday spectacle pick is the magic indoor snow at Pacific Place.
Every evening at 6:00 p.m., glazed-eyed shoppers and fidgety children are soothed with the faint tinklings of the Charlie Brown theme and lightly dusted with white stuff that looks like snow at a distance. Of course, it isn't snow but MagicSnow --that is, according to a Pacific Place press release, "90% water and is a biodegradable, nontoxic, nonstaining, eco-friendly snowflake." Up close, it looks like a colony of tiny soap bubbles. "Do you like the snow?" I asked 4-year old Juris Balodis. He nodded. "Did you taste the snow?" He made a yuck face. MagicSnow also tastes like a colony of tiny soap bubbles.

I watched a nearby security guard keep a close eye on dancing children, to make sure none slipped. MagicSnow evaporates too quickly to make puddles, but you can't be too careful. I asked him if children always danced when the MagicSnow started falling. "I'm not authorized to answer that question," he said. "But I'll show you the person who can."

We took an elevator to the third-floor balcony where a PR woman stood watching the scene. I asked her a few questions about MagicSnow and she nodded and answered vaguely. What was there to say? No message, no moral--just dancing children and an indoor weather phenomenon that made the whole place look like the kind of place where Harry Potter might eat a stale biscotti while browsing overpriced wands. It's simple and quiet. What you see is what you get. Which is all I really want.

Copyright ©2004 The Stranger

Contact: MagicSnow™ Systems
(310) 289-9852  /  MagicSnow.com