Zip line idea makes Indy super fun
INDIANAPOLIS — When the Indianapolis Super Bowl committee was looking for ideas to make its week a unique fan experience, it took a cue from abroad.
Organizers looked into a suggestion from a city resident who saw thousands line up to ride a zip line suspended above a crowd at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010.
“We wanted to do some things that no one had ever done before, so we picked that,” said Allison Melangton, the Super Bowl host committee’s president and CEO. “We waited until after Vancouver was over and we started talking to Ziptrek, who did their zip line.”
Vancouver’s zip line spanned 550 feet and stood six stories above a city square and an ice rink. Indianapolis’ is eight stories tall and covers 800 feet along South Capital Avenue and above the Super Bowl Village, a gathering spot for fans.
As frigid temperatures chilled the region, 3,500 fans rode one of the four side-by-side zip lines between Friday and Sunday, according to organizers.
One of the first was 77-year-old Ruth Shaw, a community activist who set out to prove that if she could do it, anyone could. Many waited in line for hours for the 30-second ride, which cost $10.
Organizers expected an uptick in village interest as temperatures rose above 50 degrees in Indianapolis on Monday and were forecast to stay there for much of the week. Sunday’s Super Bowl will be the first in a coldweather city since Detroit hosted Super Bowl XL in 2006 and just the fourth time in AFC-NFC Championship history.
“I know the way we’re preparing and the way we’ve controlled the weather, which is hard to do,” Colts owner Jim Irsay joked. “But we’ve had certain techniques that we’re going to keep hidden.”