Need Your Input - Bridge Day To Show Appreciation for Jumpers

[avenfoto]

gawddamn kaye thats a great idea.

[SpecialKaye]

thank you very much!!!!

[base428]

Sorry, but I have to say that won't work - you'll have a thousand spectators following you in those lanes. The Southbound lanes need to stay clear for emergency vehicles and jumper buses/vans.

[SpecialKaye]

Sorry, but I have to say that won't work - you'll have a thousand spectators following you in those lanes. The Southbound lanes need to stay clear for emergency vehicles and jumper buses/vans.

If they wished to make it work, they could and would. A lot of people park/pack down at dirty ernies and that area and then you have to creep your way down the road if you miss the buses.

[base428]

Rather than "let us walk in the Southbound lanes", perhaps "let us jump more than 6 hours" would be a better suggestion.....

[primemory]

If they wished to make it work, they could and would.

them wishing to make something like that work would require them(state police, nps, etc.) to have to do more work, which is precisely why Bridge Day to them is a pain in the ass. it's saturday and they are gov't workers that don't work on weekends. so if they have to do more than they "have" to they don't want it.

[laba1095]

How about instead of asking for all year access to the catwalk, ask for the same access the rappels get. I've heard (don't know the facts) they are allowed on Thursday and Friday for setup. What if jumpers were allowed half a day on Thursday and/or half a day on Friday to test it out, I know there are enough rangers hanging out at the landing area at those times to make sure we stay safe..., and it could be something added into the registration process to the first 50 or 100 people to sign up for it. Best thing would be to police ourselves with that time frame of jumping, but would probably require a minimum staff to appease authorities and the BD committee, so an extra jump fee would probably happen for those that sign up for it. Make the jumpers drive themselves out, so no buses to show we don't need so much organization. I'm sure we could figure out a way to get a tarp to pack on, or just use the grass down at the bottom.
For Jason, he could set up an early registration where we upload our video waiver and paper waiver by email or mail it in and get our early access badges in the mail so no on site registration and no first time jumpers to keep it easy for the first year. Probably too much for the committee when they really just want to put up a poster, but couldn't hurt to ask and use as a first step to year round access.

[F16Driver]

The best way to show appreciation would be to pay our jump fees.

[makeitquick]

now thats just a little much don't you think? pay for all of us? kind of a lot to ask no? what wouldn't be too bad, if what you want is money, would be for the first X amount of registered jumpers to be paid for. It wouldn't need to be many to get a huge interest from this crowd. And the business would be able to say they they helped the BASE community.

[F16Driver]

now thats just a little much don't you think? pay for all of us? kind of a lot to ask no? what wouldn't be too bad, if what you want is money, would be for the first X amount of registered jumpers to be paid for. It wouldn't need to be many to get a huge interest from this crowd. And the business would be able to say they they helped the BASE community.

Not a lot to ask considering the average attendance at Bridge Day is 70,000 to 80,000 people. A little bit from businesses would be great, but I personally think the spectators should pay. It's nice to dream.

[Greenmachine]

I personally think the spectators should pay.

I agree, even if we did not jump there would
still be huge state and municipal costs for the
road shut down, portable toilets, & labor costs
for the civil servants who work the event...

Hence I think each spectator should have to
throw a quarter into a 55 gallon drum to gain
access to the bridge.

80,000 * .25 = $20,000

Of course Jason already knows this and
I think has suggested the idea in the past.

[makeitquick]

I'm not sure you fully comprehend the gravity of what you have suggested tom. Do you really want BD shut down for good? here's what I mean:

the volume of 1 quarter = 808.93 mm^3 = 8.0893 mL

1 gallon = 3,785.4118 mL x 55 (gallons in the drum) = 208,197.649 mL

so if perfectly organized with absolutely no space between them, you could fit 25,737 quarters in a drum that size given that

208,197.649/8.0893=25,737.41226

leaving a 54,263 quarter overflow (out of the 80,000). Thats $13,565.75 just laying on the ground, Surely inciting a riot/free-for-all/battle royale on a grand scale. Do you think fayetteville would welcome us back after "the great BD massacre of 2010" ?
just food for thought.

[base428]

A little history:

Back in the early 1990's, it was suggested that every spectator drop a quarter in a 55-gallon barrel. Barrels were located at both ends of the bridge. Jumpers, feeling like the reaper would call their name, happily tossed in their quarter. Unfortunately, being a voluntary donation, the Bridge Day Commission only made $500.

Now, fast forward to 2010 where the Bridge Day Commission and local Chamber of Commerce are really struggling to find sponsors and the event is suffering. For a number of years, I have suggested that the Bridge Day Commission charge a mandatory 25 cents for each spectator. Besides, why should jumpers have to pay $10 each (comes from your registration fee) to the Commission when spectators watch for free. Makes lots of sense to me. But there is resistance because "they've never had a spectator fee". Well, perhaps it's time for a change. I'd be willing to bet that attendance would increase and spectators would be more appreciative of an event that charges rather than one that is "free". Usually, free events are free for a reason.......

Start charging the spectators! As I told the Chamber of Commerce, I'll happily give then 20 rolls of quarters to cover spectators who forget to bring money.

[SpecialKaye]

Tom, without the jumpers, there's no reason to shut the road down because they don't have Bridge Day on the Bridge. Jason & I both were at BD 2001 when there was no Bridge Day...the Spirit of Bridge Day took place in town and at various locations and the attendance was like 12,000 people in comparison to the normal 125,000-250,000 spectators to watch the "crazy people". NPS also allowed the rappellers to go on about their business at BD01 for 4 days while refusing jumpers that came out to still support the community, to do anything and the Sheriff's Dept was busting anything else that is used for play period. I was living in Arizona and with them only cancelling a week before, I couldn't change things without it being quite costly, so I came.

And yes, the spectators should pay something.

Jason, how about making an area up to the "corral" for jumpers (or jumpers picture takers) so that we don't have to get an attitude from the spectators so that we can get up to the wall and/or get personal pictures. Trying to get up to the side of the bridge/wall is a joke for us. We have spectators all the way up and for those of us that are "vertically challenged", trying to get a spectator to give up their space even for a moment is like asking for a glass of ice water in hell.

There's another suggestion, Jason.

[FreeFallFiend]

Hey Jason, who is the MC every year? He does an amazing job but sometimes you can tell he is reaching for things to talk about. Not complaining, having been an MC for 8 years I know its not the easiest thing in the world. What i was thinking is maybe he could promote the theoretical donation barrels. Most fund raising events have MC's themselves. Why? Because a little guilt can go a long way. In between talking about the jumps and jumpers the MC could promote the donation barrels. There are a lot of things he could say to get people to donate whether it is a quarter or $10 and we could certainly pull together and come up with a list of things he could say before hand.