From July 26-August 4, the skies over Ottawa, Illinois, blossomed with canopies during Skydive Chicago’s much-anticipated megaboogie, Summerfest. More than 800 jumpers from all corners of the world came to the drop zone resort to get on one of the nearly 700 loads during the nine-day boogie. Four aircraft—three Super Twin Otters and a Skyvan—carried the skydivers (and one inflatable llama) to altitude. “Summerfest planning starts the day after the last one. We’ve been working tirelessly to make sure everyone has an unforgettable experience this year,” explained Skydive Chicago Director of Marketing and Events A.J. Johnson as the boogie began.
Jumps ranged from the complex to the comical. Led by an impressive lineup of gold-medal-winning organizers in every discipline, Summerfesters enjoyed opportunities to better their angle flying and wingsuiting, soar through hula hoops, ride inflatables and improve their belly flying and freeflying. For the first time in Summerfest history, jumpers even succeeded in the mission of completing Rob Jonson’s annual BFR (big f’ing round) challenge of building a 23-way jumpsuitless round formation. (Jonson bought two kegs of beer for the drop zone as congratulations.) The boogie’s equally accomplished staff of videographers and photographers captured every mid-air moment and post-jump high five, releasing footage and snapshots to the event’s Facebook page as the week progressed. “Summerfest is about creating these still frames of memories that everyone can reference when they remember being at Summerfest,” Johnson remarked.
The fun continued after the last load each day. Skydive Chicago’s open-air tiki bar buzzed with nightly events and entertainment, including the hilarious returns of full-on foosball and sip ’n’ paint, the premiere of the puppet-string beer-chug contest, as well as an encore performance of magic acts by a visiting troupe of guest illusionists and a mind-blowing mentalist who still has DZO Rook Nelson wondering, “How, just how, did he do that?” Summerfest’s annual film festival also showcased its collection of impressive entries, of which Neil Kuhlman’s “Sky High 2/Shreddin’ Over Hawaii” claimed first prize.
Live music kept the party going. Fiddlerock! returned with a fresh set list of violin-string-shredding rock covers accompanied by off-stage fireworks, fiber-optic spinners and a pirate-themed party led by D.J. Rook and the Beat Army. A full fireworks display, pyrotechnic demo jump and an awe-inducing driving feat by a stuntman appropriately nicknamed “Scarecrow” (as he is all heart and no brain) commemorated the boogie’s close.
Once again, Skydive Chicago’s Summerfest did not disappoint in its yearly purveyance of stoke. It’s an event that, for both first-timers and seasoned boogie-goers alike, will leave a lasting impression. “I had people tell me that ‘this week changed my life,’” Nelson commented. “It’s humbling to me that our little party in the sky has the ability to make that kind of an impact on people. We will keep it up next year too. It’s the reason we Summerfest.”
Casey McGrath | B-42728
Lockport, Illinois
