Slide the City not coming to Sioux Falls

A large national water slide event won't be held in Sioux Falls – at least, not this year.

Organizers of the national event Slide the City wanted to bring the traveling event to the city this summer. It involves elaborate 1,000-foot water slides.

A June 27 event date was posted online but never had an approved event application from the city.

Because it would have involved closing part of Main Avenue downtown, the city would have needed to approve.

According to minutes from the May 19 parks and recreation board meeting, the city didn't support the idea because of construction on nearby Dakota Avenue and other events scheduled the same day.

The community space known as The Bakery was working with the event to host it in Sioux Falls and wanted the slide to run on Main Avenue near its location at 910 N. Main Ave.

"We did not get very far," said co-founder Clint Brown. "It seemed fun and obvious to us, but it didn't meet the criteria."

Parks department director Don Kearney said the city's special event committee worked with the group to suggest alternate locations, but they were not selected for a variety of reasons.

Brown said the event page that lists June 27 is administered by the national company, but there is no location secured for that date.

The Bakery is working with the city of Brandon to try and find a spot there.

"They're eager," Brown said. "We're scouting locations."

The event drew a lot of interest online, with 9,000 people responding on Facebook that they would attend.

Slide the City is scheduled to be in dozens of cities this year. The event includes live music, food and slides for children through adults.

The group was encouraged to reapply in Sioux Falls in 2016.

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