Crowd numbers down, but Bridge Day still brings the fun

Oct. 23—Bridge Day offers a little dash of something for everyone, and it did so Saturday with steadily improving weather as the day wore on.

Visitors to the 44th annual event, billed as West Virginia's largest one-day festival, legally strolled across two lanes of Fayette County's engineering marvel New River Gorge Bridge and got the opportunity to peruse the products or informational material of around 200 vendors, and, once they got on the bridge, tried to position themselves to watch the thrill-seeking BASE jumpers, in addition to soaking in the beautiful fall colors and visiting with both old friends and new.

To do so, they sometimes had to sharpen their elbows a little bit or engage in some serious dodging and weaving in order to squeeze by the long lines experienced at several of the vendor locations or the throng of people pressing together on the bridge, especially near the BASE jumping release points.

Crowd estimates were down considerably from last year, according to Becky Sullivan, chair of the Bridge Day Commission, which supervises the event. The crowd for Bridge Day in 2022 — the first one held after cancellation of the two previous events due to the Covid-19 pandemic — was estimated at 120,000. On Saturday, officials pegged the crowd at 82,000.

One of the numerous families out for a stroll on the bridge Saturday didn't have very far to travel for a repeat visit to the event.

"We just like to watch the jumpers; we also like to see all the vendors," said Fayetteville resident Ashley White, who was joined by her husband, Brad, their two boys and a neighbor in taking in the activities. "I mean we live in a beautiful place, so we just like to come and enjoy the day."

They were first-time participants in the Active Southern West Virginia 5K Saturday morning, and that just helped make the bridge experience more special, she said.

"We are very happy with the way that today's gone, because the weather turned out to be perfect, and I think fall foliage is at its peak," Sullivan said as the afternoon lengthened and the morning's wind and cold dissipated. "The weather makes it.

"The gorge is looking beautiful, and the BASE jumpers have had a very smooth day."

"Bridge Day should be a holiday in West Virginia," continued Sullivan, who is the director of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce/New River Gorge CVB. "It is the largest single-day festival for the state, and it brings a lot of positive awareness to all of the things that we have going on, not just in Fayette County but throughout our entire state.

"It showcases the New River Gorge and the beauty we have and a lot of the outdoor recreation."

"People come for different reasons, and it's actually a very traditional event for the state," she added. "You see a lot of locals that will plan their reunions and come here on Bridge Day weekend because they know it's always going to be the third Saturday in October. They can plan reunions, get-togethers, girls getaways. So they can plan around that and come to one of their most favorite festivals in the entire state.

"It's a unique festival. We have a lot of people that come here from all over the country and are super surprised at the way it runs, shutting down a roadway and letting all these wonderful vendors sell their wares, and all the food and ..."

Vendor Ryan Grady, of Point Pleasant, owns Graphic Impact, which operated the booth Fairy Floss near the bridge on Saturday. Customers were able to purchase cotton candy and snow cones at that stop. It marked about 10 years for the vendor to operate at Bridge Day, minus the Covid years.

"The crowd," he said when asked what keeps them coming back. "It's a huge crowd, tons of people.

"It earns a lot of income. We depend on it. We send our kids to school with this money, to a private school, and it really helps out."

"I wish we could get down to see the parachuters, though," he lamented. "It sucks to have to be here and not get to see that."

"I love the atmosphere," Grady noted. "I think it's a wonderful place. The people are friendly; you get that in West Virginia."

Sullivan said Jan-Care Ambulance's post-event report featured nine total responses, including a smattering of extremity injuries, two chest pain incidents and a case of dehydration, some which occurred on the top of the bridge. Four individuals were transported to the hospital.

And, she said that Fayette County Board of Education representatives reported that all spectators were off the bridge by 4:15 p.m.

Bridge Day notes:

—Tandem BASE jump contest winner Garrett Napier, a former West Virginian, got the chance of a lifetime Saturday.

"I grew up in West Virginia but moved to New Hampshire in June of this year to be closer to my wife's family," Napier said Friday ahead of Bridge Day. "This will be my first BASE jump.

"I've attended Bridge Day several times over the years as a spectator and always thought it would be so cool to do a BASE jump on Bridge Day, but I didn't know if I'd ever be able to pull it off."

And that's where West Virginia Tourism came into the picture.

"But a few months ago when I saw that WV Tourism was hosting a contest to win a once in a lifetime tandem BASE jump, I knew I had to enter," Napier said. "To my surprise, a few weeks after entering the contest I received an email stating that I had been selected to jump."

"So, after talking with the team at WV Tourism and discussing the logistics, I hopped on a plane and flew down," he said.

The jump more than exceeded his expectations, Napier said Saturday after taking the leap guided by veteran jumper Sean Chuma, the owner of Tandem BASE.

"At first I was a little nervous, especially walking out onto the platform," said Napier. "But, once I got out there, yeah, I was really calm. We jumped off and it went really good; it was so exciting."

For Napier, it was definitely a new experience. "I tried to go skydiving one time, but there was a weather delay and I didn't get to," he said. "Yeah, this was my first experience BASE jumping or skydiving.

"It was such an adrenaline rush, and everything was happening so quick. But, at the same time, it was really calm."

Napier wore a harness that was connected to his jumpmaster. They landed on the Fayette Station surface as opposed to the possibility of hitting the water or a tree. "I was expecting it to be kind of rough, but we just slid in right on our butts. It was super smooth."

Looking ahead, Napier said he now wants to undertake a Bridge Day jump on his own in the future. "I almost wish I wouldn't have done this, because now I'm going to be chasing that feeling for a while. I definitely will be back." He said he was "really thankful for this opportunity, and that West Virginia Tourism was able to provide me with it."

—Two other BASE jumpers also reported positive experiences.

"First time on the Bridge Day, and it will be not my last time," said Eric Demers, from Ontario, Canada, who completed two jumps on the day. "I will come back next year.

"It was a good thrill, a good feeling. I really like that."

Demers began skydiving in 2014 and has amassed about 2,000 jumps and is a tandem instructor, he said. "On my first jump (Saturday), I was nervous a little bit. Nobody rushed me on the platform, take your time. It was awesome. Nice organization."

He said he landed safely on the beach both times.

"I have a regret to not come before," Demers concluded. "Everybody's cool."

A fellow jumper, Chris Liberton, of St. Louis, participated in his initial Bridge Day Saturday. "It's a lot of fun," Liberton said. "The whole event is really something else. I would recommend it to anybody. I'll definitely be back."

He and his family traveled from St. Louis on Friday for the event and planned to return home Sunday. His daughter, Olivia, got to help him launch one of his three jumps on the day.

"On the catapult jump, the guy running it offered for her to release the air lever and launch me, and she was all about it," said Liberton. "My wife (Brittany) and my son (Silas) were over at the edge watching, and my daughter got to launch me, and it was pretty fun for both of us."

He also said an old U.S. Navy friend showed up and got to watch him jump.

Of the three jumps, Liberton said, "Landed on the beach every time. It was all good."

—First-time Bridge Day 5K racers Tally Reed and Amy Hatcher, both from Berkeley Springs, enjoyed competing in the 3.1-mile road run that helped kick off Bridge Day Saturday morning.

"It was gorgeous from the start, running across the bridge so you get the view of the gorge the first thing," said Reed, a previous Bridge Day attendee. "And right when I was running across, they did the countdown to the people jumping off. That was really cool, because I was running by and they were counting down, and they jumped off."

"It (the race course) was wonderful," Reed added. "Not too hilly, just the right amount."

While it was her first Bridge Day race, Hatcher says she, too, has been to the event before. "I've been to Bridge Day before, but I've never done the race," said Hatcher. "It was fabulous. I was really excited. I think that God gave us a beautiful day, because I was pretty sure we were going to be running in the rain, but we weren't.

"The sun came out, and it was beautiful."

The annual race, coordinated by Active Southern West Virginia, attracted around 450 finishers. Competitors ran across the bridge before finishing in front of the historic Fayette County Courthouse.

—As the week wound down ahead of Bridge Day Saturday, traffic in the region was beginning to pick up, even though the weather turned gloomy and rainy on Friday.

A visitor from Bella Vista, Arkansas, Trish Farmer, made a stop at the Kanawha Falls Public Fishing Access in Glen Ferris on Friday to take in the waterfalls. It was her second trip to West Virginia.

"I've never been to Bridge Day, so it was on my bucket list," Farmer said as she anticipated a weekend featuring a visit to Bridge Day, as well as exploring some of the area's trails and other offerings. "I'm just trying to live my best life now because, you know, I'm old.

"Just having adventures, just seeing everything. The beauty here is, to me, it's just the abstract beauty, the poverty and then the nature. It all rolls into one to just be awesome to me.

"I just want to explore around and see what I can find on this trip. I'm going to do some trails, that kind of thing."

When asked what she'd heard about Bridge Day, she replied, "That it's cool. And I've seen some videos, and they've got a lot more guts than I do. Because that's only 900 feet; you've got to get that parachute just right."

The next day, Farmer did indeed make it to the bridge. She said the time she spent on the bridge "wasn't too crowded" and "everybody's been real nice. A lot of interesting vendors, and I loved the catapult. That was so funny. And the guy in the Speedo. What kind of guy jumps off the bridge in a Speedo?

"But, yeah, it's been great. It was worth it all."

Email: skeenan@register-herald.com; follow on Facebook