On Saturday, Charlie Ott of St. Paul will proudly perch on a massive Juicy Lucy and toss himself into the Mississippi River.

He and his team representing The Nook restaurant are participating in the Red Bull Flugtag, along with 39 other contestants, hoping to “fly” their themed contraptions the furthest off a barge parked at Harriet Island Regional Park in St. Paul.

“I’ve always been really interested in this since I saw it nine years ago,” said Henry Brown, a manager and a server at The Nook who created the cheese-infused burger designed craft. “When I heard it was coming back, I got pretty excited.”

In March, he and his team from the st. Paul restaurant — Sean Pfundstein, Danielle Vander-Waal, Kevin Woods and Ott — watched Mayor Melvin Carter parachute in with professional athlete Levi LaVallee to announce the return of the Flugtag event to St. Paul.

“Charlie was sitting next to Sean and I, and he was like, ‘I’d love do the Flugtag,’ and I looked over at Charlie and I said, ‘I would love to push you off of a barge,’ ” Brown said. “We said, ‘Let’s do it!’ ”

According to The Nook’s brag board, it’s home to one of the best Juicy Lucy burgers in the Twin Cities. Apparently even Barbara Streisand gushed about it when she came to St. Paul for a concert. So the team, with workers and a regular customer,thought the burger would be the perfect design.

On Saturday, Brown, dressed as a pepper shaker and his team dressed as ketchup, mustard and salt, will push Ott, dressed as a dill pickle, 35 feet along the barge and hope he glides “Das Fliegnedlucy” (The Flying Lucy) gracefully into the water. Or they’ll watch him drop straight down, as most contestants do.

They’ll be competing with other teams from St. Paul with names like “Ferris Bueller’s Take Off,” “Metaphorasauras,” “Bird is the Word,” and “Teddy on a (Big) Stick” — as well as teams from across Minnesota and from other states.

90,000 SPECTATORS IN 2010

Since the first Red Bull Flugtag took place in Vienna, Austria, in 1992, more than 150 Red Bull Flugtags have been held around the globe, attracting up to 300,000 spectators for a single event.

In 2010, the Inver Grove Heights-based “Major Trouble and the Dirty Dixies” flew their manned glider 207 feet, breaking the previous record of 195 feet before an audience of 90,000 spectators.

Teams compete for a first place prize valued at $6,000 and bragging rights. Since the contraptions are destroyed when they hit the water, it’s literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The teams are judged on three criteria: flight distance, the creativity of the craft, and showmanship. They are also judged on how many votes they get on Facebook.

ST. PAUL’S COMMITMENT TO EVENT

The city of St. Paul collaborated with Visit St. Paul, the city’s convention and tourism bureau, to put $225,000 toward the event, some of which comes back to the city as sponsor Red Bull pays for street closures and other services.

The city’s 2019 budget had already anticipated spending $50,000 for the former Red Bull Crashed Ice event, which did not return to St. Paul this year. Meanwhile, Visit St. Paul had $85,000 on hand as of April to put toward Flugtag. That left the two scrambling to fill a $90,000 budget gap.

Visit St. Paul President and CEO Terry Mattson said the tourism bureau will front the $90,000, with the expectation it will be paid back through hotel-motel taxes.

“We have every reason to believe that hole will be filled with hotel-motel tax revenue that is coming in above what we had anticipated,” Mattson said. “We’re pretty confident we’ll get there. In the meantime, we’ve got it covered through Visit St. Paul.”

“In the beginning, there was a bit of sticker shock and surprise as to how we were going to fund this, but we’ve always collectively felt it is a great event for St. Paul and a worthwhile investment,” he added. “That’s never been a question. It’s been here before. It’s just been on hiatus. Everything has a price, and so many things … come down to the money part. You’ve got to find a way to make that work, and we did that.”

HOW TO WATCH

The Flugtag starts at 10:30 a.m. Saturday and is free to the public. Visitors can view the teams and will get a chance to vote on their favorite on Harriet Island. The competition will begin after opening ceremonies at about noon.

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Sept. 30 is last day for public comment on Pigs Eye Lake makeover Food vendors and event partners will be on Harriet Island, with viewing also available from North Island Park and the Mississippi River itself — if you have a boat and follow the rules.

Parking will be limited. There are a few businesses on the West Side Flats that will have lots available. Viewers may also use parking garages downtown St. Paul and then make their way to the river.

Looking for a party? St. Paul will close West 7th Street from Walnut Street to Kellogg Avenue for a 2-block street party running from 2 to 11 p.m. Saturday. There will be food, refreshments and live music.

For more information, go online to flugtag.redbull.com.