Twin Falls Wings For Love World BASE Jump Competition Cancelled
Southern Idaho Tourism has just announced the highly anticipated Wings For Love World Cup BASE Jump Competition has been cancelled. On August 27, Southern Idaho Tourism said the event was cancelled due to not enough return being seen from overnight stays.
"Southern Idaho Tourism creates our programming from a grant by the Idaho Travel Council. There is a 2% lodging tax placed on all qualifying overnight stays in Idaho. Those funds are then split between statewide promotions and regional promotions," Melissa Barry, the Executive Director from Southern Idaho Tourism said.
With the funding, Barry said the promotions are meant to increase visitation to the area.
"Unfortunately, the numbers weren't there," Barry said. "SIT would've invested a significant amount of grant dollars and we weren't seeing the return in overnight stays. This wouldn't be fair to the program or region."
For those who had already purchased tickets to the event, refunds will be issued within the next few days. All questions can be directed to Southern Idaho Tourism by email.
The event was to be the first of its kind in Twin Falls. Four days of events were planned including BASE jumpers from around the world and special live music. This past weekend, Go Out Local announced the band KONGOS would be coming along with three opening bands in conjunction with the event. At this time, Keith Hughes, the director of Go Out Local, says the concert will still take place.
"The KONGOS concert has always been completely separate from the base jumping event and it's still on schedule and ticket sales are going strong," Hughes said to Townsquare Media in an email exchange.
During the city council meeting last week, the plans and expectations for the concert were given. Plans included the size of the crowd expected for the event and amount of security that will be needed.
The KONGOS concert is slated for September 14th at the Twin Falls Visitor Center. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $25 at the Eventbrite website through August 31st and after that date prices will go up. In the presentation for approval from the city council, prior to the cancellation of the Wings For Love World Cup BASE Jump Competition scheduled for September 11-14, organizers stated expectations of 2,500 people attending the concert.