Drivers on Interstate 15 north of Blackfoot in Idaho had to deal with ping pong dropped onto the roadway by a pilot with poor aim.
The pilot attempted to drop 3,000 ping pong balls into an assembled crowd for a contest in Blackfoot Pride Days in which the balls would be redeemed for prizes, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Unfortunately, the pilot missed the crowd and the ping pong balls were dropped onto I-15 instead.
The event was called off and organizers warned the crowd not to go after the balls since prizes were going to be handed out regardless. The warning was not taken seriously.
“It was ridiculous,” Blackfoot resident Sarah Taylor told the Idaho State Journal. “Kids and adults were actually running out on the freeway to get the balls.”
Taylor said she could hear the balls popping on the freeway as cars ran over them.
No one was injured in the process of trying to retrieve ping pong balls in the middle of a busy, high-speed highway.
The pilot was new, and according to a friend who wished to remain anonymous, told the Idaho State Journal he misjudged the wind.
“He was right over the target and the wind took them (the balls) back over the freeway,” the friend said.
The ping pong ball drop has been a fixture in the Blackfoot Pride Days for over a decade. O’ Dells, the furniture company that sponsors the drop, handed out prizes to kids after the botched downpour of ping pong balls.
Most of the balls would have been redeemed for candy, but some were worth up to $100 in gift certificates.