Slide the City returning to Wichita — on a better slope

Slide the City – the water slide set up downtown last Fourth of July – is coming back to Wichita on Aug. 20, in a new location.

This time the 1,000-foot slippery slide will be set up on 37th Street at Tyler Road – a street that has more of a slope than the Lewis Street Bridge that was used for the slide last year. The bridge turned out to be a dud for sliding; volunteers had to physically propel many people to get them moving along the slide in their inflatable tubes, and people at times stood in long lines on a hot sunny day to wait their turn to slide.

Nonetheless, the feedback that the city of Wichita got from the event was mostly good, said Stacey Hamm, marketing director for the Department of Park and Recreation.

“It was something different we never had in the city,” Hamm said Tuesday. “Even though there wasn’t enough slope, they still had a blast with it.”

The location for the slide this year is at Maize South High School, where people will be able to park, Hamm said. “If you go east on 37th, that’s all neighborhood, and there’s actually a nice slope,” she said.

The park department and Wichita Parks Foundation sponsored the event last year as part of a return of Fourth of July fireworks downtown. This year, the city is bringing back fireworks, food and music on the evening of the Fourth, but it is not sponsoring Slide the City in August. But the department will be the nonprofit to which Slide the City will give part of its proceeds. Last year, more than 2,000 tickets were sold to Slide the City, and the city received about $3,000 of the proceeds, Hamm said.

The city will once again help try to get volunteers for the event, Hamm said.

The slide is three city blocks long, according to Slide the City. A block party will be part of the event, with food, music, local vendors and street entertainers, according to a press release.

To slide, a person must be older than 5 and at least 46 inches tall. Early-bird prices range from $10 for a single slide to $40 for an all-day pass, and prices increase as time goes on. On the day of the event, a single slide will cost $20, and an all-day pass will cost $65.

Registration is at www.slidethecity.com/location/wichita/.

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 2:52 PM with the headline "Slide the City returning to Wichita — on a better slope."