It's kind of hard to see so I had to get a closer look:
This hill is located next to (at the top of the hill) East Leonard Elementary School.
We took the next driveway on the left which belong to a local park (not affiliated with this hill). I parked the car and ran over and took a closer picture of the slide:
This thing is massive! And there are so many people! I stopped a person that was walking back to their vehicle and asked who was responsible for this. He said "oh...Rick and Scott". I was confused by his response. His reference contained an assumption that I knew these two people on a personal level. I explained my confusion and he further defined who "Rick a
nd Scott" are. "They're two people that have crazy ideas and put together fun activities like this". They sound like good people. This person also eluded to an eve
nt that these guys are planning called the bazooka rally (http://www.bazookarally.com/).
The distance between where we parked and where the people were gathering was quite a hike. If we didn't have my son with us, we certainly would have treked up the hill to where the action was. Alas, I climbed back into our car and we started driving home. We rounded the corner and headed up Leonard, with the slide on our right. I was unable to just let this go. I had to learn more. I asked for permission of my wife to investigate further. It was getting late and our son needed to be in bed soon. She granted permission and we turned into the school. We parked and walked as a family over to the area where the people were gathered at the top of the slide. He
re's the first picture I took from the top:
By the time we got here, the crowd had begun to disperse...there were still a LOT of people here but not as many as there were when we first drove past. The reason for this became apparent and at the same time added another exciting element. The water from this slide was brought by the community! Everyone that was here (except us) brought jugs of water from home (and dish soap) to lube the slide!
By the time we arrived, all the water was gone. There were still people sliding and having a good time because of the residual soap and water.
I asked a few people about the slide and received a similar story as the one I was given at the bottom of the hill. Only this time, Rick and Scott were pointed out. I wanted to shake the hands of the people putting this on so began walking toward the person identified as Rick. Rick shouted to the crowd "Ok everybody: LAST RUN". Then I heard from behind him, an obnoxious "Ok DAAAAD!". Well....it turns out that I knew the person shouting the clever remark. It was Matt DeGraff. I met Matt through my late father Mike Fires. I spoke to Matt for awhile as the organizers of this event finished a ceremonial Last Run.
I ended up meeting Scott of "Rick and Scott". He explained a bit about what they were doing and said it's mostly just for fun but is primarily for promoting the bazooka run (see link above). He then explained what the bazooka run is all about. Sounds awesome (I won't go into details except that it is this saturday (8/15/09) and I'm disappointed that I won't be able to attend).
This is the 3rd time they've put this event on. Last week the local news did an article on the slide:
The slide is made of large vinyl banners (if you flip them over you will find advertisements on the other side).
I'm really glad we stopped. If only we would have gotten there earlier, I know my son Ashley would have loved to ride down it.
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