Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
It’s looking like the Mountain Mud Festival may be left high and dry this year.
The Santiam Four-Wheel Drive Association has been seeking a location where it can host the annual event, but to no avail thus far.
Its usual site off Berlin Road is not available this year, said Don Frick, a member of the association.
The Mountain Mud Festival is normally held the first weekend of March with about 2,500 tickets going on sale in February. The event grew out the annual Foster Lake mud flat races, which were held beginning in the late 1960s at the east end of the lake in January where the low winter pool exposed the lakebed. It draws participants from around the state and across the nation.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers barred the group from using the lake in 2001, citing environmental concerns, and the Mountain Mud Festival opened that year at the new site on 40 acres owned by Norma Johnson.
“All year we’ve been looking,” Frick said. “It’s just kind of hard to find property.”
Even if the association found a property now, the event site could not be ready in time for the usual March date, Frick said. But if a site is found soon enough, the event could still be held this year.
That will depend on how much work is necessary to get the event going, he said.
Association volunteers have gone to work weeks in advance of the festival preparing the site. They would dig holes, build dirt and rock piles, rough out an obstacle course, clear grass and much more to get ready. After the event is done, they would fill in the holes and smooth over the hilly fields.
It could happen in April, Frick said, or it could happen again next year.
“We don’t want to lose what we’ve got,” he said. The association is looking at other ideas if it doesn’t continuing running the festival.
“If somebody comes up with property, it doesn’t mean we could have it,” Frick said. The association has had a couple of places offered, but they weren’t feasible as far as location and safety.
“We’d even like to buy the property if we could do it,” Frick said.
The association has rented the Berlin Road site each year, he said.
“It’ll come together, but it’s just going to take the right timing,” he said, adding that it could still happen in the next couple of weeks if the right connections are made.
“I would rather not even put it on,” Frick said. “It takes a lot of work, but we’re going to put it on as long as we can because people want it. People have enjoyed it all these years. People look forward to going out there and showing their rigs off. It keeps at least some of the traffic out of the foothills.”
Some guys work on their rigs all year just to show them off at the festival, Frick said.
The association sometimes doesn’t make a profit from the event, he said. Ticket prices have normally been aimed at covering the actual cost of the event.
When the event has come out in the black, the association has donated money to organizations like the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Boys & Girls Club and the senior alcohol-free graduation party.
The Kiwanis Club runs a concession stand at the event to help pay for the club’s program providing new shoes to needy children.
For more information or if you have a site that might work, contact the association on its information line 367-7547. Its Web site is http://www.themud.com.