Here’s how and when you can ride JUMP’s five-story slide in Downtown Boise

“Is someone stuck in there?” a woman wondered out loud a couple of Thursdays ago, as she gazed up at the five-story spiral slide at JUMP, the playful community gathering spot at 1000 W. Myrtle St. in Downtown Boise.

Nope. The chute was not clogged, with humans or anything else.

It was still 20 minutes before the slide opened as part of First Thursday festivities — and a long line of excited children and adults were itching to jump in. Shortly after 6 p.m., the first in line zoomed, feet first, through the stainless steel and acrylic tube.

“I was kind of scared at the top,” said 11-year-old Izzy Horton, a fifth-grader from Nezperce who was visiting Boise with classmates. Once she pushed off, she found it exhilarating.

“It’s like a water slide,” she said.

She said she screamed just for fun on the way down. Others sounded as if they were shrieking more from fear than delight. The voices emanating from inside the tube vibrated, and there’s a reason for that:

“Dude, that’s like hecka bumpy,” a man told his companion after getting off the slide. That bumpiness didn’t stop giddy, giggling youngsters from dashing up five flights of stairs to get back in line.

If you want to ride the slide, take note: It will be operating from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. every Thursday from May through October, weather permitting (no rides on rainy days). It also will be open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, starting June 1. Rides are free.

Jack’s Urban Meeting Place, or JUMP, opened in December 2015. But the spiral slide didn’t come online until last summer, after the park area below it was completed, JUMP community engagement director Kathy O’Neill said. That created an air of mystery around the quirky new attraction.

“That’s been the biggest question in the community: When is that slide going to open?” O’Neill said.

JUMP staff took a cautious approach, first inviting groups from the YMCA, Boys & Girls Club and local schools to try the slide. It was opened to the general community by midsummer as part of First Thursdays.

“It was kind of a quiet opening,” she said, noting that JUMP was studying a number of things to ensure safety and smooth operations. “We wanted to make sure we can accommodate the groups that are showing up.”

There are no age restrictions to ride the slide, only height and weight requirements. You must be at least 44 inches tall and weigh less than 330. Those who have heart or neck problems are warned that riding the slide may not be a good idea. JUMP initially had people sign liability waivers but it is no longer doing that; it hired “slide activators” to help riders get on and off the slide safely.

A few months ago, a group of 80-year-olds from a local assisted living facility took over the slide — and had a blast, O’Neill said.

So far, no one has been injured. The only complaints Thursday were from a few adults who said they felt a little dizzy.

The ride takes each person about a minute, including the time it takes to put a small sack over your feet at the start and to get off the tube at the bottom. The actual slide time is not quite 30 seconds.

The idea to include a spiral slide at JUMP came from the City Museum in St. Louis, which has a 10-story slide, O’Neill said. The original plan was to have three spiral slides, but two were eliminated to cut costs.

The slide’s purpose at JUMP, other than pure fun, is to challenge children and adults to try something that feels a little scary, or risky.

“It’s about building self-esteem and self-confidence,” O’Neill said. “This place is a big space that encourages you to explore your own potential, and to try new things is a part of exploring that.”

While some parents high-fived their children for trying the slide Thursday, others struggled to convince theirs to go for it.

“Look how safe it is,” one mother told her skeptical daughter. “It’s a tube. Nothing can happen.”

There’s another outdoor slide at JUMP called the team slide, which is like a traditional slide on steroids: It’s 2 stories high and the angle is sharp. There’s room for eight people to slide at the same time, and team races are encouraged. It’s on the fifth floor near the entrance to the spiral slide. And there’s a three-story net structure called The Climber near the exit of the spiral slide.

JUMP has a parking garage that’s open to the public. It’s $3 an hour, with a $15 maximum per day.

This story was originally published April 5, 2019 at 8:51 AM.