Sean C. Morgan
Some 1,500 people will bring their four-wheel drives to Sweet Home Saturday morning to spend the day slipping and sliding their way across a muddy Holley pasture.
The annual Mud Fest runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Gates open at 7 a.m. The annual event grew out of an informal gathering in January on the bed of Foster Reservoir for the Foster Mud Flat Races, later moving to Berlin Road and then out to the Holley area off Highway 228.
“We were out there Saturday and looked everything over,” said Don Frick who is organizing the event with his wife, Nancy, and John and Pam Paine. The two couples are the oldest members of the Santiam Four-Wheel Drive Association, which runs the event. They’ve reworked the wash pits, using concrete highway dividers to help carry away the mud.
They’ve also regraded the drag strip, Frick said. “Everything is about the same. I think there’s going to be more mud this year.”
The forecast as of Monday called for a high chance of rain through the weekend.
This year’s event will honor Toni Nelson, who died in August, Frick said. She has been a friend and helper since she was little.
T-shirts and sweat shirts will be in her memory, and proceeds will be given to SafeHaven Humane Society in Albany.
She was the same age as Frick’s son, Kye, and grew up around his children, he said. “She was just part of the family, really. She was like a daughter to me.”
As of Sunday, tickets were nearly sold out. Call (800) 745-3000. They are $40 each plus Ticketmaster fees. Children age 8 and younger are admitted free. Tickets are per person, not per vehicle.