Registration opens Monday for a giant traveling water slide event branded “Slide the City Mobile,” though the actual site will be across the bay in Spanish Fort rather than in Mobile itself. Organizers confirmed the 1,000-foot inflatable slide will stretch down a hill on Town Center Drive, sending riders on a roughly 50-foot drop across a course about the length of three football fields.
The Salt Lake City-based company behind the event, which also produces the traveling Color Me Rad race series, said the Spanish Fort location was finalized only recently, even though the event will keep the “Mobile” name because organizers considered it more recognizable to the regional audience the event is targeting.
The two-day event is scheduled for June 26 and 27. City approval for closing part of Town Center Drive came together in the days leading up to the announcement, according to a spokesperson for Springhill Medical Center, one of the event’s local sponsors. A portion of ticket proceeds will benefit the local chapter of the American Heart Association.
Organizers structured the schedule around two distinct audiences: Friday evening from 5 to 9 p.m. is billed as an adults-only “date night,” while Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. is designated “family fun day” with activities geared toward children and families.
Spanish Fort’s mayor said the city viewed hosting the event as a chance to draw a large crowd to the Town Center shopping and dining district, estimating the slide could attract between 5,000 and 6,000 visitors over the two days. Town Center Drive is a four-lane road with a median, and officials said only one side would be closed for the slide route, leaving the other open to normal traffic. A secondary entrance to the shopping center that isn’t affected by the closure will remain available throughout the event.
Vendors and food trucks are expected to line the route, giving the event more of a festival atmosphere beyond just the slide itself. Similar Slide the City events held in other cities, including a recent stop in Pensacola that drew large crowds along a downtown street, have combined the novelty of the giant slip-and-slide with a broader street-fair experience.
Ticket packages will range from single-ride passes to multi-person bundles, with organizers highlighting a family and friends package offering unlimited sliding for a group as the best per-person value. Local sponsors said discount codes would be available when registration opens online Monday.
The event adds to a growing list of large-scale traveling attractions that have chosen the Mobile Bay area as a stop in recent years, part of a broader trend of communities on both sides of the bay competing to host regional draws that bring visitors and spending into local shopping districts.