It may still be in the planning stages, but an American business hopes to slide into some Ontario cities this summer.
“Slide the City” is an American company that’s been setting up a 1000 ft. slip and slide in a number of cities throughout the US since last summer.
Event Director for Ontario Wyatt Grow explains they’ve learned a lot in the way of safety since the first slide in Salt Lake City.
“We allowed some people to ride without a tube and some people to ride with a tube, and what that caused was a huge kind of disparity in the speed,” he says. “The tubers would go much faster than the people who were just sliding on their shorts or bare skin. What we now require is that everyone use a tube.”
A similar project last summer took place halfway across the world in Bristol, UK.
The mission to transport a gigantic slip and slide is not an easy one.
“We have the slide, which is a 300m slide, and we also bring in some padding. We use this close-cell foam underneath since we typically try to put it on an asphalt, paved street,” he says. “It takes a full semi-trailer to haul the slide and the foam.”
Grow says they have yet to talk to departments in London related to the slide. In an email, Division Manager of Parks and Community Sports Scott Stafford writes that it’s the first he has heard of the event.
“We don’t have a lot of solid dates nailed down for the moment for Ontario. However, we’re getting very close on some, and we’ll announce when we’re ready,” says Grow.
Just the possibility of a giant slip and slide has piqued the interest of a number of people sharing the company’s idea on various social media sites.
Tickets for the event (should it happen) look to cost between $15 and $65.