Ellis Square came alive with a rainbow of colorful streams of water shooting up from its interactive fountain.

Construction supervisors Wednesday night began tests on the fountain, which brings them another step closer to finishing an almost four-year project that returns one of the city’s first squares to public use.

The fountain, situated close to the City Market side of the square, consists of 34 water jets and lights embedded in a concrete plaza.

Computers control the lights, which can be set on one color – say, green for St. Patrick’s Day – or a dazzling array of hues.

“Those lights will make up to 16 million colors, that’s what they tell me,” said Brad Riner of Dabbs-Williams General Contractors of Statesboro. “(They) can do any color in the color spectrum.”

The water jets work in unison or independently to shoot 10-foot sprays, create balls of water or just burble a few inches from the ground. Water and lights also can be programmed to music.

“This is a true interactive fountain,” said Dan Smirl, owner of DMS Construction of Savannah and construction manager for the Ellis Square project. “It’s a focal point, it really is. I can’t wait to see it when the little kids get down in the water.”

The fountain cost $440,000, almost $100,000 less than originally projected, Smirl said.

Some concrete work, final walkways and laying of sod are the last jobs left on the Ellis project. Freezing weather in recent weeks has delayed concrete work, but the project is on target for completion by the end of the month.

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