I have not been on the forum for a few days, but when I got on today I noticed that there were almost 2 pages of comments in this thread on the topping out ceremony. I know that the topic has died down. Jack even said that it was clear that "topping out party was fully justified", so I really don't want to drag this on, but I take the discussion on this topic personal.
To start, it does not need to be justified. I have been in the construction business for 23 years. I have been mainly in industrial where we celebrate different milestones, but when I did work in commercial, every project had a topping off ceremony. It is a source of great pride for the people that put a lot of time and effort into these projects. It is a time honored tradition that dates back centuries. Here is a small article about it:
https://coarchitects.com/topping-ori...ent-tradition/
Tons of buildings have parties to celebrate a topping out. Any contractor that cares about their workers and has any pride in the project they have done will have one. I would be disappointed with Clark construction if they did not have a party.
Even smaller projects have them.
The STEM building at TAMU- San Antonio:
https://foxsanantonio.com/news/local...-tech-building
The Embassy Suites at Brooks:
https://livebrooks.com/embassy-suite...august-2016-2/
Even big and small projects in Toronto have these celebrations. Even though they have "been there".
10 story Bridgeport Hospital expansion:
http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2011/10/...es-its-topping
Also, the 58 story L Tower:
http://www.ctbuh.org/News/GlobalTall...n-US/view.aspx
Even New York does it:
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/06...r-topping-out/
At the end of the day, I just hope you guys can understand the great pride everyone on a site has in a topping out ceremony. This is not a celebration for the city, though some officials may and will want to attend. This is about the hard work of the people on site. Like a wrap party in film making, there is a lot of work that still needs to be done to get out a finished product, but this really does mark the beginning of the end. This would be the last time all major contractors will be on site. Slowly all the groups will be start to leave the project, so you take this time to celebrate as a whole. They are not looking to others to justify celebrating their hard work.