Weather Scrubs ‘Slide the City’; Backers Seek New Date

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The weather forecast for Saturday calls for cool temperatures and rain, forcing city officials to scrub tomorrow’s Slide the City event.

They hope to reschedule at a later date.

Bergen Giordani, associate director of development for the Rich Center for Autism at Youngstown State University, acknowledged the cancellation on Facebook this morning. Slide the City was to be a fundraiser for the Rich Center.

Backers intended to place a huge water slide on the Market Street Bridge leading into downtown. For fees that ranged from $25 to $45, participants could slide three times.

Saturday’s forecast calls for thunderstorms and a high of just 67 degrees. As of today, 1,300 tickets had been sold.

Giordani said Michael McGiffin, downtown events coordinator, and Meredith Dalenberg, Slide the City coordinator, who flew here for the event, notified her around 8:30 a.m. of the cancellation.

The decision came from Slide the City headquarters in Utah.

“What we didn’t want was to have 1,300 people come down and stand in line” only to learn it was canceled because of a thunderstorm, Giordani said. “There’s no reason for that.”

Officials are working to set another date. “The city has a pretty full plate this summer,” Giordani explained.

Registered participants already should have received  or will receive an email from Slide the City with instructions and directions on obtaining refunds, McGiffin said in the city’s statement announcing the cancellation. While the company and city leaders are attempting to reschedule the event, participants are advised to get a refund as no date has been selected.

“The team from Slide the City has been great to work with thus far and continues to work well with the city departments,” McGiffin said. “We are working on finding a date to reschedule.”

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.