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Perrine Bridge is 486 ft above the river above the Snake River Canyon in South Central Idaho, within a few hundred yards of Evel Knievel's attempted jump. There are no legal prohibitions against base jumpers, and numerous jumps have been made with some publicity. A nonprofit organization (Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers) which finds volunteers for elderly and disabled persons qualifying for zero other programs provides services without cost for things like transportation to doctors and shopping, light housekeeping, lawn care, etc., is wondering if a base jumping event in late spring or early summer would be a possible fundraising event for the organization, which is struggling for survival. No details, just wondering if this might be of enough interest to the base jumping community for the organization to pursue.

http://www.ivcswpa.org/

i'd bring it up with city officials first. one might be pushing it with an organized event that will be a source of traffic congestion. but who knows, maybe they'll dig the idea because it brings in revenue.

Is it legal to jump there?

ya quit naming illegal sites haha

Perrine Bridge (Twin Falls, Idaho -- forgot to specify the exact location in first post)is the only man-made structure in the US that allows BASE jumping yr around without a permit. If we organized it as an event, it would obviously require city (etc) support and coordination. It would probably be seen in a very positive light. Twin Falls is less than an hour away from Jackpot NV (nice gambling casinos) and 1 1/2 hrs from Sun Valley. It would most likely get lots of news coverage. We have not even seriously started to organize such an event, at this point it is just an idea. Does it have merit for fundraising? Have similar events ever happened?

BASE jumpers who live in the area, have shown a commitment to the local community and have conducted events.

your questions indicate you are not likely part of the BASE community, or from the local community. that means you are an outsider, who may or may not have the best interests of EITHER community at heart.

be aware you start with a severe trust deficit. sure it can be overcome, but how is up to you.

 

are you sure this person is who they claim? sure?
(evidently. they have failed to reply to someone who has reached out to them.)

Miles and friends know how to publicize their event. I'd be shocked if someone from TF would be ignorant of it. the region just is not that big. I'd also think popping by the bridge and chatting to the jumpers would work better than appearing here. obviously, the local jumpers are key. can this organization work with them? I could go on.

the internet has been used by trolls and folks who misrepresent themselves since it's inception.

plus, I am the only user that actually answered the original question! (and yes, I could be wrong and will be happy to admit it.)

 IMO trying to start planning for a charity event by this spring is very short sighted. Planning for Bridge Fest takes all year. Also, Bridge Fest is a local event supporting a local charity. Although Base jumpers come from all over the country for the event and Base jumping is the main attraction, the majority of support during the event comes from the local community.

If the OP wishes to research this further, it may make more sense to try to market the event as a United Way fundraiser than directly for a charity in Southwest Pennsylvania. There are plenty of good upstanding people in southern Idaho, but getting them to ante up for a local charity all the way across the country is a longshot. And expecting to achieve a windfall from the Base community alone is a pipe-dream.

I wish the OP and his organization the best of luck in finding an efficent way to acquire the funds to keep their services going. I just don't see it happening in southern Idaho.

Well, I see there are issues! Our organization (IVC) is part of a national network of IVC organizations, we are located in Twin Falls ID, town of 50,000 that is the major city serving a population area of 180,000, spread out over an area equal to a combination of 5-6 smaller eastern states. Our local IVC has shown the most increase in services in each of the last 3 yrs, and our resources have been stretched beyond the max. IVCs across the country look for opportunities to raise funds, since we receive no govt grants with strings, don't charge for any services, etc. Someone had the idea at a Board mtg to check out having a BASE jumping event. (I am Treasurer of the Board.) So I naively did a Goggle and your website was the first one on the results list that looked like it had an active forum so I posted my initial questions here.

No, I am not a BASE jumper, I don't know any BASE jumpers, I don't want to be a BASE jumper. I know a couple folks I'd like to throw over the Perrine Bridge railing, but not as part of a BASE jump, and I wouldn't really do that except in fantasy. I know very little about the sport. Almost no local folks are BASE jumpers, nearly all we hear about are from somewhere else including Europe and Asia and Australia (99% check in with some official, the newspaper gets wind of it, so we know about them). During the last Olympic Winter training up in Sun Valley, some of the skiiers did a BASE jump.

Am I a troll? Well, I don't live under the Perrine Bridge, I don't have a gruff billy-goat voice, and I do not have any ulterior motives except to seriously wonder about a fundraising event, my mind is swimming with ideas about local matchups with United Way, Chamber of Commerce, annual Western Days celebration in early June, or County Fair last week in August with one of the most respected rodeo exhibitions in the country wtih all sorts of rodeo celebrities coming in most years.

My post here was the first thing I did on the internet. Thought I might get a couple of replies over the WE, and am pleased wtih all the posts. In the meantime, I checked out whether or not there are other BASE jumping events, and discovered there are quite a few of them. Here's a link to the Bridge Day event in Fayettesville WVA 2010. You will notice a link to 2 articles about the Perrine Bridge. They are older articles, but pretty much relect the community attitudes. http://www.bridgeday.info/

It is clear to me from looking at the Bridge Day site and a couple other event sites, that there are may aspects and issues to having such an event that aren't covered by a simple "What if we have a BASE jumping event", until someone actually starts to check it out. That was the purpose of this very first post.

It is also reassuring to know that this forum has skeptics and suspicious people who ask the right questions about people outside the BASE jumping community and their intentions. I am not at all offended by these questions, they ought to be asked. It is clear that your forum has posters who are experienced in BASE jumping and Base jumping events.

It is quite obvious that anything in summer 2011 is out of the question, there are just too many aspects to consider and arrange, unless we find a local person who can devote full time to this for free (unlikely). Oh -- another idea that comes to mind is to hold the event in conjunction with a Jazz In The Canyon event, an annual affair in late summer that donates proceeds to local charities. It is down in the canyon with a good view of the bridge, but upwind of the jumping direction, so there would be a good view of the bridge with the jumpers going in the opposite direction, but since the park is at river level, would see the whole thing. I bet with large screens and strategically placed cameras, we could even get closeups of each jump for viewing by the crowd and recorded for posterity.

Anyway, yes I am a real non-trolling person & non-Basejumping person, I have lived in this community for about 40 yrs, but my personal stats mean nothing because this would end up being a community event. I have no doubt it would be greeted with enthusiasm, and the issues we need to consider and deal with and arrangements to be made will require much consultation with other established events and persons with experience with these things.

Our funding is extremely shaky past the next 6 months, because usual grant foundations had a bad year -- they all operate on interest/dividend funds, which was lower in 2010 that in many a year, and more nonprofits like us are making more and larger requests. We lost 2 primary grants. If we can survive another year somehow, I will suggest to the Board of Directors tomorrow that we begin checking out a BASE jumping event for summer 2012. I hope you don't mind if I keep this thread going a few more days. I'll report back to you tomorrow on the Board's sentiments.

In the meantime, more comments are welcomed.

yep, if you are serious, lot's of planning needs done.

there are helpful people in TF, even a tandem operation. maybe they can help, provide ideas, etc.

thank you for not being offended by my skepticism. (I don't appreciate rogue "charities" abusing the good intentions of people.)

 

Thanks Treejumps. Sorry if things have sounded vague, I was just checking out whether some event was even worth looking into. In the meantime, you have talked with the Director of our organization, she will be contacting you again. At today's Board of Directors meeting for our local IVC, it was agreed that we have many things to check out, including making contacts with you and others in the local BASE jumping community, before we can even decide if we would want to do an event. There are not any details or plans at this point. There is nothing planned for the immediate future. As things proceed over the next few months, I will post updates, but as I say, we won't be doing anything right away. In the meantime, the Perrine Bridge is still here, there's the Memorial Day weekend gathering, and the Perrine Bridge Festival (Sept, I think) already planned by others.