A 1000-foot waterslide was the talk of the town last Saturday. The most slippery event of the summer known as Slide The City came to Tallahassee to make a splash.
Thousands of students, families and friends came out to see the slide that stretched from Duval Street to Macomb Street, almost a quarter-mile long. The slide seemed magically appear, but it didn’t appear on its own.
A small group of FAMU and Florida State University volunteers teamed up on Saturday morning at 3 a.m. to help build the wettest and wildest slide the city has ever seen.
“That slide wasn’t made by itself,” volunteer and FAMU occupational therapy student from Jacksonville Spencer Rasberry said. “It took a lot of hard work and teamwork.”
Over a hundred foam pads were laid across the city to provide a comfortable base for the slide. Several extremely large and heavy sections of the slide had to be unraveled and connected together in order to create the massive slide that everyone came to experience. It took several hours for the volunteers to complete the task.
“I had no idea that we had to lay down hundreds of foam pads before we started unrolling the slide,” FAMU volunteer Conrad Strong said. “It wasn’t easy, but Spencer kept us encouraged and entertained.”
Co-owner of the Slide The City event Spencer Hunn took part in every area of the set up. According to FAMU volunteers that helped during setup, Hunn is a ball of energy that does whatever he can to keep his volunteers busy and upbeat.
“All of my volunteers today were absolutely amazing,” Hunn said. “They didn’t complain when they were tired. It was a great way to start the day off!”
Throughout the day FAMU volunteers alternated shifts. During their shifts they organized the merchandise, signed people in and blew up pool floats.
Vendors such as as Kona Ice, Hungry Howies, Diva Pops and Smackin’ Good Wings were also in attendance, keeping everyone fed and full while DJ duo “Copi-Chino” kept the crowd moving to the music.
At the end of their shifts, volunteers had the chance to treat themselves to as many slides they wanted.
“I will definitely be volunteering for Slide The City, again,” Rasberry said. “The work was fun and the slide was worth it!”
Slide The City is currently on tour. In order to find out tour event dates and to sign up to volunteer visit www.slidethecity.com