Annual Bridge Day Festival Held In Park

The 29th annual Bridge Day Festival was held on the New River Gorge Bridge on Saturday, October 18th. The event was coordinated under a unified command system that involved 13 agencies, including the West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia National Guard, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the National Park Service. Emergency medical services at the landing zone were coordinated through the state office of emergency management and attended to by JanCare Ambulance Service and area physicians. The Fayette County Convention and Visitors Bureau estimated the attendance at this, West Virginia’s largest one-day festival, more than 155,000 people. In all, 383 BASE jumpers completed 1,062 successful jumps in seven hours, with only three EMS transports due to injuries, which included hypothermia from a water landing and subsequent trip through class IV whitewater, a fractured foot, and a femur fracture caused by a rigid knee brace and a very hard landing. In addition to BASE jumping activities, rappellers completed 895 rappels from the bridge catwalk and 74 ascents, including one by superintendent Don Striker, who made his very first rappel from the bridge. Another 168 people completed a high line traverse from the bridge to Fayette Station road below. This year, Bridge Day organizers also hosted a motorcycle safety awareness ride across the bridge. At noon, about 85 motorcyclists, including West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin III, rode across the bridge, stopping long enough for the governor to announce an executive order allowing for an additional hour of jumping to occur (from the scheduled end at 3 p.m. until 4 p.m.). No significant law enforcement incidents occurred during the event.