The Idaho Potato Drop finished as the runner up as the best New Year's Eve drop in the country in this years USA Today Readers Choice Poll.
This classic event to celebrate New Year's Eve will happen in Cecil Andrus Park as Dylan Cline started the Idaho Potato Drop 11-years-ago in the Grove Plaza. The event has gone through several changes including the introduction of Urban Air.
"Through the years it has just been a wild ride," said Cline. "I decided I wanted to go a little bit bigger and do something that hadn’t been done before so we custom-built the largest jump in Idaho."
The Onslaught Crew has been building a gap jump for the last six years for an Urban Air Competition where they will tow in using a wench and launch over a gap, the best rider of the competition gets to jump as the potato drops at midnight.
"It’s a little scary with all the news cameras out there," said Justin "Juice" Kennedy who has earned the honor of jumping at midnight twice. "You have fireworks strapped to your boots that’s a little bit different, but it is super fun, the people are hyped and I love providing the entertainment."
The OS crew has gotten better at building the jump which takes three days. Tamarack Resort sponsors the competition and normally provides the snow. However, it hasn't been a good year for snow so Ryan Neptune of Gateway Parks saved the day by delivering the snow.
"It is super special to bring the snow down to the hometown community," said Kennedy. "For a lot of people, this is their first time watching skiers who otherwise wouldn’t be watching snow sports, it is pretty sweet."
This year people can look forward to a brand new fireworks show as Cline told us it will be bigger and better than years past.
"We have a brand new fireworks show that has never been done in Idaho before," said Cline. "In fact, our pyrotechnic has been in competitions at Sky Wars the international pyrotechnics competition, so we are really excited to see the show this year, it is going to be great."
The Idaho Potato Drop brings the community together as ten non-profits will be on the stage raising money during the rising of the potato, I've always been blown away by the number of families who bring their kids for the drop and it also means big business for local restaurants.
"A lot of time restaurants will only see people out drinking," said Cline. "Now they are seeing families coming in for dinner so it has been really nice knowing that not only are we hosting a free and charitable event, but we are also helping to build within our community and support local businesses."
The festivities start at 6:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve and there will be events leading up to midnight when the giant potato falls out of the sky.
