As we have done in years past, we would like to start off by thanking our sponsors and the folks that make this event possible. Without their support and passion for this sport, these type of events would not even be possible. All of us here at SWR appreciate your partnership and look forward to working together in the future. :) HUGE round of applause for the following: 1) Douglas County Parks Our major sponsor MOD QUAD (Mike Bourne & Family) attended again, in
person, for the 4th consecutive year in a row. We can't thank you enough
for your dedication to this sport and our group as a whole. Your continued
Patronage, and generous donations to this cause are much appreciated and
our OPEN riding areas are a much safer, cleaner place because of it. Thank
you once again for all you do! You guys rock! This years event started off with our team arriving in Winchester Bay on late Thursday afternoon. We had people traveling from as far South as the Bay Area in CA and as far North as Western and Eastern WA. We also traveled from the Portland Metro area and as local as the Oregon Coast. We feel its important to note, that our team is still willing to make the trip to Winchester Bay, give up our precious ride time and self fund this event even when gas prices are soaring sky high! Friday started off by meeting with our vendors, finalizing our booth
location, creating signs, and organizing all of the donated items as well
as prizes for the children for our post event raffle. Saturday morning, we started to setup in the Umpqua River Day Use Staging
Area in preparation for our 10:00am to 2:00pm event with the prize raffle
to follow at 2:30pm. We had several folks again this year start early and
arrive with dune debris as early as 10am. While we didn't have as many
people in attendance this year as we would have liked to have seen, we did
everything we could to alert people. On Salmon Harbor Drive we had signs
displayed. Members of our group handed out bags and held banners. We also
had a couple of local radio broadcasts that weekend to help get the word
out locally as well. We had many people make the trip this year to help us
out, with the overall prices associated to fuel, camping and traveling in
general, it is understandable why there was not the turn out this year as
there has been in the past. To all of you who did make the effort to come
and join us for this event.... Give yourself a HUGE pat on the back. It is
more than appreciated, you helped make a difference! Now on an even more positive note, the amount of garbage and debris removed
this year was incredible. A variety of items, from tires to plastic water
bottles, beer and pop cans to cooking and camp utensils were all collected.
It was also noted by many that participated that they didn't have to look
hard to find litter. All of the common areas and tree lines that surround
the area were littered with debris. Some of them even mentioned "too bad we
didn't have more people there is still a ton of stuff out there" Our hope is that if the time is being taken to read this page, you do
actually care about our open areas of recreation and that you promote
picking up after yourself. What it really boils down to is an awareness and
being able to back up the talk with ACTION. If you can haul it out with you
on a ride or camping trip, DON'T LEAVE IT BEHIND. Also, we hope that if you
were to see someone littering in these areas that we all working hard to
keep open for recreation, SAY SOMETHING. We love to ride and are willing
to do what ever it takes to help keep these areas safe and open for
recreation. Its our hope that you feel the same way. In closing we would like to again say, thank you to Douglas County Parks
for allowing us to make a difference. We are pleased to have been part of
this remarkable event for the past 5 years. Our group strongly believes
that when we get together, things get done. Once again awareness is key to
success. Our group of riders, children, and sponsors all truly believe
that we benefit greatly by promoting this event. We all keep this in mind throughout the year while we are out there riding. Thank you once again, |
