WASHINGTON — A Slip ‘n Slide is almost a rite of passage for kids in summer. This weekend in Baltimore, the spins will last a lot longer.
The Urban Slide will roll out a 1,000 foot track on the streets of Baltimore Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s three football fields long, to give you some perspective,” says Shawn Smith, the president of the operation.
The tour came about last fall when Smith saw someone with a 300 foot Slip ‘n Slide in San Francisco.
“We looked at it and thought it was really cool and decided we can try to make this into a business,” he says.
This spring, the city-to-city dream became a reality. And this weekend, the road show arrives in Baltimore. Participants slide down city blocks on an inner tube or other inflatable device.
“If they slide correctly — lifting their feet up correctly — it only takes about a minute or a minute and a half to get down the slide,” Smith says.
Ticket options include a single slide, a triple slide, or an unlimited slide for the day. To set up one of the world’s longest courses, organizers identify streets that have a grade of about five to six percent. Up to 15,000 gallons of water, which is about half the size of a common swimming pool, propel the sliders.
The slide will run from 12 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. A night session goes from 7 until 9 p.m. On Sunday, the Urban Slide is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Registration is at N. Eutaw Street just south of Dolphin Street. Check out how it works in this Urban Slide video:
