There 'Snow Angels in Ludington

[XLFD]

North Dakota's Record Making Day

 

Record attempt — Most Simultaneous Snow Angels Simultaneous Snow Angels (Tuesday, December 21, 2010 Ludington Daily News)

Almost 9,000 people are needed to help Ludington break the Guinness Book of World Records for making the most snow angels simultaneously.  Area residents and visitors are asked to come to Oriole Field on New Year’s Day to participate in the record attempt.

Participants will need to be inside Oriole Field by noon Saturday, Jan. 1 in order to be counted. The entrance will open at 11:30 a.m. for participants to begin being counted and gather for the attempt.

Currently, Bismarck, North Dakota, holds the record with 8,962 snow angels done in 2007. The community took the record from Michigan, which had held the record for 3,784 snow angels.

“It is going to be a challenge to beat North Dakota’s record, but I have faith that the people of Ludington and West Michigan will show their Michigan pride and help reclaim the World Record of Snow Angels,” John Henderson, Ludington mayor. Henderson will be signaling participants to drop and start making snow angels at noon.

Participation in this event is free and for all ages. Commemorative stickers will be sold for $1. Proceeds of sticker sales will benefit the Ludington High School cheerleading program.

Link:  http://www.downtownludington.org/light-up-the-lake/new-years-day-ev...

 

At first look this sounds like a pretty neat idea.  Ludington can be put in the record books and all they have to do is get a bunch of people to Oriole Field at noon on New Year's Day to lie on their backs and wave their extremities in the snow.  Cheerleaders have a fund-raising event and area folks and visitors can be part of something very special.  That is the positive and optimistic view.

But then some of us are burdened with the reality of the situation, and after figuring out the inherent logistic problems, realize that this exercise is not only going to be futile, but very dangerous.  Staying optimistic, however, let's consider what will happen if we do get 9000 people to arrive on a beautiful winter's day.

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The track area which encompasses the football field is roughly 100 X 140 yards, with a total area of 14,000 sq. yards.  A 6 ft. (2 yd) tall person flailing his arms and legs will need at least a 2 yd X 2 yd (4 sq. ft.) area for themself.  Thus, this area will be able to contain 14,000/4 = 3500 people making snow angels.  Perhaps filling all the baseball fields and intermediate areas may contain the other 5500 people, but it will be difficult to coordinate.

Processing the entrance of 9000 people in the 30 minutes before the attempt will require accomodating and acknowledging 300 people/minute (6 people/second).  That is a tall order without any preplanning.  Having 9000 people in an area for roughly an hour will require a fair deal of porta-johns for the necessary duties.

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And let's not forget parking.  Oriole Field, if the parking areas are plowed, has less than 150 parking spots.  Unless some master bussing plan is utilized, this means over 8000 people will have to walk on the nearby roads to get to the sole entrance on Tinkham.  About 6 people/second crossing Tinkham between 11:30 and noon, and considerably more walking on both sides of that street will effectively kill traffic flow and may kill participants.  The infrastructure of that area is not conducive to such an activity. 

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Those 8000+ people also need between 2000-3000 parking spaces.  If you are familiar with the Gus Macker parking situation, the demands on this event will be about three times as bad.  Maybe more, since few would have thought through the above logistics nightmare created.  In cold weather, people will want to park as close to the event as possible.  Parking spots will be harder to find due to plowed snow and every nearby street will be effectively gridlocked by pedestrian traffic on the road.

Then let's remain optimistic and say the event goes pretty much as planned.  9000 people start leaving at one time, many in a hurry to get back to watch Michigan or MSU at their respective bowl games that start at 1:00 and 1:30.  9000 people exiting from the one gate of Oriole Field onto Tinkham Avenue, most walking many blocks on the streets back to their car.  This will even be more dangerous than the arrival, due to it not being diluted over a half-hours time.

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This event will likely have at least three very good lessons to be learned if even just a tenth of the number of people show up.  The importance of pre-planning and logistical forethought for one.  The deficiencies of the infrastructure on that side of town to hold such an event safely, particularly in the middle of winter.  Lastly, more citizen awareness of the lack of the recognition of the first two by City Hall's decision makers.

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[charlemagnetism]

sweet analysis.  i see your point.  you really do need to be more positive and optomistic about such stuff tee hee.

nice portrait of the city council.  i am going to be safely in front of my tube orbing the woverines pregame at the start of a lost day of college pigskin perusing.

[XLFD]

Latest word is that Mayor John will be giving an update on this attempt at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning to see whether it may be called off due to the warm temperatures and rain forecasted up to the scheduled time of the attempt. 

Hope he does, it's totally unsafe.  Plus I doubt whether 'mud angels would count for the record.

[Edie Lindsey]

It was called off.  There are no angels here this year, but they are going to try next year. 

[AQUAMAN]

Good work X, must be the math major in you,  putting all the logistics into account, in a mature and analytical manner, shows this was nothing but a dumbed down idea to start with. Good thing Mother Nature turned warm. Otherwise, it's likely a fiasco of untold magnitude might have enveloped downtown, and all over the streets around town, for many hours, perhaps days to come. Makes ya wonder, didn't any public safety official like Barnett, think any of this out in any logical way in advance for safety and security. I would have thought those factors would have weighed in heavily in even considering such a wild and reckless stunt. But, that's our Hendy Boy.

[XLFD]

Having that knowledge helped with the figuring but anyone who has dealt with the Gus Macker or who has seen that area during that event knows of the cluster fluster involved.  That area is plenty dangerous during the summer, as noted in my previous thread on this years Gus Macker. 

This event would not only involve three times as many people and vehicles in a very condensed time frame, but with snow and ice and without the ability to use most of Oriole Field for parking.  Very dangerous. 

I'm sure most of Ludington would like to break the record and bring that fame here, but the infrastructure and availability of willing bodies work greatly against it from ever doing so in an acceptably safe way.