Bridge Day is an annual one-day festival in Fayetteville, Fayette County, West Virginia, United States The event is coordinated by the New River Gorge Bridge Day Commission, and is sponsored by numerous companies of both local and international significance. The event, held on the third Saturday every October, commemorates the 1977 completion of the New River Gorge Bridge. On this day, all four lanes of the bridge are closed to automobiles and opened to pedestrians. Estimates have 100,000 people attending the overall event. The first Bridge Day was held in 1980 and drew a crowd of roughly 40,000. It has been held every year since except for those years: 2001, when it was cancelled because of recent events of 9/11 and the possibility of terrorist attacks; it was also cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

History

United States Army veteran Burton Ervin, considered the father of Bridge Day, jumped from the New River Gorge Bridge on August 17, 1979 at 10:20 p.m. with over 200 spectators in attendance. There is a plaque at the bridge commemorating the event.

BASE jumping

Bridge Day is the only day of the year people are allowed to BASE jump off the bridge into the New River Gorge 876 ft below, one of the few exceptions to a general ban on BASE jumping within the U.S. National Park System. People are also allowed to rappel from the span on Bridge Day. About four hundred BASE jumpers participate in each year's festival. There have been three deaths and a wingsuit accident during Bridge Day involving BASE jumpers:

Rappelling

Rappelling off the bottom of the bridge has been part of the Bridge Day festivities since 1981.

Bungee jumping

The first confirmed bungee jumper was stunt performer Skip Stanley also known as "Blue Bandit" who leapt from the bridge during the 1985 Bridge Day. In 1992, New Zealander Chris Allum, bungee jumped 823 ft from the bridge to set a world's record for the longest bungee jump from a fixed structure, stopping about 40 feet above the river. Also in 1992 a GMC Jimmy SUV was dropped on a bungee for a commercial. In 1993, Chris Allum bungee with six friends in a basket setting a world record for most people in a single bungee jump. However, considerable amount of time required for a bungee jumpers to be reel back up, in which time BASE jumpers are not allowed to jump, prompted the banning of bungee jumping at Bridge Day since 1994.