Bridge Day — October 15, 2005 in Fayetteville, West Virginia

This year marks the 26th annual Bridge Day, first held in 1980.

It's the largest one–day festival anywhere in wild, wonderful West Virginia.

The focus is the 876–foot–tall New River Gorge Bridge (above and below) which, when it opened in 1977, became the longest steel arch bridge in the world.

It retained that title until 2003 when the Lupu Bridge in Shanghai, China, which at 550 meters bests the New River Gorge Bridge by 32 meters [105 feet], became the record–holder.

200,000 people will gather in Fayetteville to watch as over a 6–hour period over 400 BASE jumpers parachute from the bridge at a rate of over one per minute.

"Rappelers descend on ropes like caterpillars beneath the bridge."

There's lots of other stuff to do as well, with bands and music, vendors, food and who knows what else?

This website has a countdown clock so you can know down to the second how long till the party starts.

The Bridge Day FAQ page is here, with all manner of useful information including an answer to the question, "Can I jump off the bridge?"