Lab Shows Its Spirit for 50th Anniversary Kick-off Party and Photos

February 1, 2012

SLAC’s 50^th anniversary celebration got off to a rousing start last Thursday with an all-staff photo shoot and a kick-off party complete with cleverly named “mocktails,” a dress-up photo booth and soulful live band.

“I loved it,” exclaimed Debbie Tryforos, administrative associate in particle physics and astrophysics. “It was nice to see so many SLAC employees in one place for the photo. At the party, I got to see some people I hadn’t seen in quite a while.”

The event started with employees assembling on SLAC's main green, in front of the cafeteria, for a multitude of photos and videos taken from land, lift bucket and helicopter by Brad Plummer, the lab's multimedia manager, plus four other professional photographers.

Having received special training from SLAC safety and facilities personnel, photographer Matt Beardsley ascended 30 feet in a boom-lift to take high-resolution pictures of the assembled employees. Through a special arrangement with the camera's manufacturer, he used a $44,000, 80-megapixel Phase One IQ180, the world’s highest resolution single-shot medium-format camera. 

See just how well it captured all the festive smiles and waves by zooming into this 450-megabyte photo on the web, at https://zoom.it/Y4fQ.

Plummer scheduled an aerial photo shoot of the site to coincide with the Jan. 26 gathering, booking an Agusta 109 Grand. The sleek helicopter made three passes over the crowd, in addition to sweeping down the length of the linac and over other SLAC facilities for needed stock footage.

After the paparazzi-like experience, employees streamed downhill into a large tent for the lively kick-off celebration. They enjoyed a sumptuous selection of cheeses, cupcakes, fruits, sweets and beverages. Local band “So Timeless” got funky on stage, alongside a photo booth complete with outrageous wigs and shiny shades that staff definitely weren't shy about putting on for the camera.

Many of these wacky images are online and available now at https://buzzimages.smugmug.com/SLAC.

LaPria Genevro, administrative associate in SLAC's communications office, led the party planning. Among the myriad tasks checked off over the two months leading up to the event, she and colleagues selected the menu and band, created 34 reusable centerpieces and assembled the 1,700 “50th Anniversary” and “SLAC” buttons that employees took away.

Genevro said her team especially enjoyed thinking up fun "SLACspeak" names for the drinks:  Project M (mock mojito), the Photonic Tonic  (faux kir royale), the Accelerator (coffee), Tau Tea (hot water for tea), Synchrotron Cider (hot apple cider) and Cosmic Cocoa (hot chocolate).

From the hundreds of photos taken throughout the event, Plummer will select a special 50^th Anniversary collection. Employees who took photos at the event are invited to submit their best shots to Plummer for possible inclusion in that collection.

The golden anniversary will be a central theme for many of the lab’s outreach activities this year, such as tours, speakers bureau and public lectures, according to Melinda Lee, SLAC's community relations manager. A “main event” scientific symposium and special event for VIPs and employees will be held over a Friday-Saturday stretch in August, timed to coincide with the shutdown of both the Linac Coherent Light Source and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. Then, a community open house is planned for September.

Specific dates will be announced soon, so stay tuned!