Thousands Slip, Slide Down Prospect Street

The long hill on Prospect Street was transformed for a day from a road for cars to a huge Slip ​‘n Slide.

Prospect was closed to traffic between Edwards and Sachem streets. Then Slide The City, a for-profit amusement company that partners with local organizations and vendors to bring a wet and slippery good time to cities in U.S. and Canada, unfurled 1,000 feet of bright green vinyl on the street for the enjoyment of bikini and board-short clad people looking to enjoy a warm summer day with clear blue skies.

At around 1 p.m. yellow inflatable tubes could be seen being blown up on sidewalks, and minutes later flying down the hill.

Occasionally, there was a traffic jam, or two.

But volunteers kept the water flowing and helped people get unstuck.

From there, it was smooth sailing.

Many risked their phones for those crucial Instagram pics and Snapchat video.

The event started at 9 a.m. and lasted until 7 p.m. drawing an estimated 4,000 people over the course of the day. Lt. Sam Brown, deputy patrol commander of the police department, said it went off without a hitch.

In addition to being a really good time, Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison said Slide The City partnered with the city’s Youth@Work program to employ some young people at the event, it also plans to contribute some of its proceeds to that program.

Win Davis, executive director of Town Green Special Services District, which helped bring Slide The City to town, said the event was such a success that there will be efforts to bring it back.

“I think anything more we can do to enliven New Haven, the better off we are as a community,” he said. ​“I’m just so excited to see so many smiles and so many people laughing.