Over The Edge – Lansing

The Boji Tower (formerly The Michigan National Tower) is the tallest building in Lansing. It’s a beautiful historic building that’s been a staple of downtown Lansing since it was built in the 30’s. 

I’ve personally only been inside twice and both times I was awed by the art deco decor and the grand elevators. Despite not spending a lot of time inside, it’s a very familiar building to me. It’s clock is still one that I use to keep time downtown, and I use it’s imposing face to frame shots of the Christmas tree in winter. And despite the fact that they removed the neon lights years ago, I still call it the Michigan National building in my head (and out loud).

Also, people jump off of it. Well, jump might not be the right word. The past two years they’ve done this charity thing where people pay $500 and rappel down the side of the building. Today was the first chance I got to go and watch the Over the Edge event…and it was pretty wild. There wasn’t a lot of people there (we were early) but it was enough to make people who were driving past paranoid about why we were all looking up!

The first person who came down was fast, which leads me to believe that they were part of the crew. (can you see him at the top of this picture?)  He seemed to traverse the building, winds and ropes with ease and despite a bit of vertigo while trying to aim my camera it was pretty fun to watch. I think they did that on purpose because the next fellow down almost gave me a heart attack.

I’m not sure if it was user error, or an errant gust of wind but the older gentleman who came down next ran into trouble. He swayed way off course at times and then appeared to be stuck, jerking on his lines and hovering several stories off the ground. I know next to nothing about rappelling or how safe it is, but I was worried. Thankfully, the spotters on the ground seemed calm so I tried not to be worried that he was going to plummet to his doom. (I did have to stop watching though!) The gentleman in blue is the one that struggled, and the next shot is of his partner going down as well. She seemed to stop for a while but I thought hers might be just to give him encouragement.

  After that bit of stress, the next few didn’t seem so bad. In fact one pair ended up waving at the crowd below. That takes guts! We watched for a bit and then walked over to the farmers market where I inhaled an italian ice so fast there wasn’t even time for pictures.

We were early for Be a Tourist in Your Own Town day, choosing mainly to go to outdoor events. Boji Tower didn’t seem crowded, and while the Lansing City Market was busy, it wasn’t packed. There were about a bajillion green-shirted kids at Lugnuts stadium for Sparrow’s Michigan Mile kid’s race. It was a hoot to see the 6 & under group running while crowds of people cheered them around the stadium block. I’m hoping the other events today got a good turnout. It’s a beautiful day, sunny and warm but with a decent breeze and I hope Mid-Michiganders take advantage of good weather and some great free events.