Blacklight Slide bringing even more neon to Las Vegas Valley

If you happen to be near Sam Boyd Stadium on the evening of April 9, and you see giant glowing structures with hundreds of glowing humanoid figures cavorting around, fear not.

Area 51 hasn’t started a work release program, it’s just Blacklight Slide, a family-friendly event involving inflatable slides illuminated with blacklight while staff members spray down the sliders with neon-colored water.

It’s basically a temporary water slide with special effects, music and an after-party.

It took the organizers of the Blacklight Slide a couple of tries to work the kinks out of their events, such as realizing that while the weather around Chicago can be 80 degrees in September, it can also be 50, which is what it was when they did it there in 2015.

“It was a little chilly,” said Justin Muir, media manager for U Run, the event management company that puts the together the slide event and similar Blacklight Run events. “Our first thought was to create a blacklight slip and slide, but unless you had a place with a good-sized hill, it didn’t work out well, so we went with the slides, and they’ve been great.”

The Blacklight Slide, planned to start at 6 p.m. at Sam Boyd Stadium, 7000 Russell Road, will be the first full-scale Blacklight Slide the company has operated involving two inflatable structures with four chutes each for a total of eight slides.

“The slides are 40 feet tall and 200 feet long,” Muir said. “We hit the people sliding down with a special mixture of neon glowing water we’ve created. We’ve clocked people going 35 mph down the slide. You come cruising down there pretty quick.”

Participants get to go down the slides as many times as they want during the event and can attend the after-party, which is also under blacklights.

“It’s just a lot of fun,” said Tracy Clark, an employee of U Run who has participated in the event. “Everyone is laughing and dancing and having a good time.”

The specially formulated Neon Glow Water is nontoxic, but the company warns that it might stain. Most participants go for swimwear and an inexpensive white T-shirt and water shoes. Participants are also required to use a tube or other inflatable for sliding. If you don’t have one, the venue will be selling them.

Admission is $50, and check-in begins at 4 p.m. Visit blacklightslide.com.

To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.