I know I keep saying this but it really is nice to have the halls filled at SDC again. 
With the great weather this weekend many people came out to cure the winter cabin fever. I again have faith that it will be warm again. I knew turning the waterfall on again would do it! 
Tuesday we celebrated our 10th year at the new facility. It was no April fools joke it really has been ten years!! We open the doors and brought out the BBQ’s. I was surprised at the large crowd that showed up. We brought out the photo albums from construction and shared stories. It was certainly an enjoyable night. Again, on behalf of SDC, I want to thank the people that have helped make this dream happen. 
Construction on the cabins is moving right along. I originally thought that we would finish by the end of the month, but it’s looking more like the end of this week. Thanks to Chad, Donovan, and David of Elliot enterprises for their hard work on this project. This past weekend we took our first reservation!! The cabins were a ‘tourist’ hotspot this weekend with people stopping by to check them out. If you are planning on being here for any events this summer you want to make your reservation today. I’m sure they won’t be open for long. 
Our campground has seen a rush of people lately. We only have 15 electric slots and 1water slot open. If you are thinking of having a trailer this summer don’t wait too long. I’m looking into possibly expanding the north end of the campground to open up some slots. The expansion will include 40 new slots and up our total to 173. 
Saturday’s weather was long awaited after the winter that we’ve had, and continue to have. The Otter was turning loads and the Café was in full swing. Great news, the Café is once again serving smoothies!! We also have SDC water for sale by the bottle or case. Saturday found many people cleaning out their trailers and getting ‘that smell’ out of their fridge. 
Kirk and Para-Concepts have been up to their ears in nylon getting everyone’s rigs ready for the summer. Kirk has expanded the loft in the basement to handle the ever-increasing amount of work he is getting. Para-Concepts is the US service center for Icarus canopies and now has wingsuit demos. Para-concepts can handle all requests from modifications to simple rig washing. Check out their updated website www.para-concepts.com. 
I met with a gentleman that will be celebrating his 50th birthday this September. He wants to put on a Pyro-musical. Mark is well involved in the fireworks community and wants to put on THE show of shows, and has chosen SDC as the location. He plans on syncing the show to music and launching 3500+ fireworks. To put this into prospective we launch around 500 shells for our 4th of July celebration. We are still working out the exact details, however, there is talk of firing a 24 inch shell!! The last time one was launched was the Olympics!! I’ll keep you updated as we get everything finalized. 
The AFP refresher is coming up April 11. If you are an AFP student this class is offered to you at no cost. This class is not limited to AFP students; if you are a new jumper and want a review this class is open to you. April 11 is also our first AFP in a week course. This course has gotten a lot of attention from jumpers as far away as Hungary!! We are gearing up for a big AFP year as many people are signing up for our AFP in a week program.
We have our new 10 for 10 flyers. Anyone wanting to earn free jumps can stop in manifest and pick up yours today. The program works like this: The flyers have a spot for your name, write your name on them and hand them out to co-workers, friends, family, ex-girlfriends, etc. For every 10 that we get back you get 10 free jumps!! Beat the high gas prices and earn free jumps.
SDC would like to welcome back Biff and Nicola. They spent their winter down in New Orleans. Biff is coming back this year as an AFP instructor and Nicola will be cooking some tasty treats in the Café. 
A reminder that April 12 is our annual staffing meeting. If you want to be involved with SDC this summer you must be in attendance. The meeting will take place at sunset. The Sky Lounge will be opening and serving Lasagna dinners.
April 19, weather permitting, we will be doing night jumps. If you need night jumps for your license or just want to do night jumps April 19 is the day…well I guess night. 
If you happen to smell fast food while on the DZ we are not opening a McDonalds, but running the lawn mowers on bio-fuel! Update, the Bio-fuel project has been working great!! We have had no problems with any of the equipment so far and are looking forward to a bio-fuel summer!
Thanks to everyone that came out and enjoyed the truly first nice weekend of spring.
Rook |