The El Dorado City Commission heard more about the proposed pole vault competition during their meeting March 1.
Dan Demo, who is helping organize the event, along with El Dorado High School Coach Travis Wyss, talked with the commissioners.
The event is planned for 10 a.m. to about 11:30 p.m. July 24.
The group said the best place for it is on Main Street.
“In setting this up with my daughter, who is a pole vaulter, we spent about three weeks going all over town trying to find the right place to have this event,” Demo explained.
They found Main Street between First and Second streets was the best.
It has a little downhill run and it can be set up to run south to north.
“Wind is a factor,” Demo said. “Direction is a factor because of the sun.”
He said when they have the college kids jumping 16 to 18 feet, the wind becomes even more of a factor in trajectory and where they land.
“We’re trying to take all the factors we can control and make it as safe as possible,” he said.
Lighting was another requirement, which could be accommodated on Main Street.
“All of it is about safety,” he said.
Last year, the event, which was held during Prairie Port, drew about 50 participants and this year they are expecting to have 75 to 100 jumpers. They have vaulters from at least four states attend the event.
Participants have to be experienced vaulters.
“We’re gaining a reputation of having a good event,” Demo said. “We have some very good high school vaulters.”
The event is held as a fundraiser for the high school team to buy new poles and equipment.
The weekend they want to hold it also is during the 4-H Fair and they have talked with others about having a 5K run as well. The Chamber of Commerce also is talking about doing something.
“We talked about having a band come in between the high school and elite vaulters during the dead time in there,” Demo added.
Demo said they needed to get the OK so they could move ahead.
“We really can’t go out and promote it until we have the street,” he said. “Once we have it set I think we will have more people wanting to be involved and bringing more people downtown.”
Although when the commission first heard about the request at a previous meeting, they did not feel it was a good idea, after hearing about everything involved with the event and the other activities, they gave their consent for use of the street.
