Sean C. Morgan
Then-newlyweds Don and Nancy Frick started organizing an annual mud festival for four-wheel-drive enthusiasts in January 1975 when it was the Foster Mud Flat Races.
The Fricks celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in October, and they’re still helping organize the Mud Fest, which will be held Saturday on a pasture just west of Holley off Highway 228.
The Fricks’ involvement with the Santiam Four-Wheel Drive Association, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, began before that.
We camped with them, and we did a bit of running with them,” Don said. In those days, the mud festival was run with donations, and 250 to 500 attended.
Don graduated from Sweet Home High School in 1971, and Nancy graduated in 1974. They met while Nancy was still in high school.
Wasn’t that at Safeway on a weekend?” Don said.
Don’s brother (Richard) was dating my best friend (Leree Hansen),” Nancy said. “He was an older man.”
And I had a hot rod,” Don said.
They dated for a couple of years, and they got involved in the club through family members. Nancy’s brothers were members of the fairly new organization.
I had a 1956 Ford three-quarter ton four-wheel drive,” Don said. “I just used it going on runs.”
Then he got a 1974 Ford Highboy, he said. “That’s what I usually used. I liked going out playing in the mud and getting all muddy – just playing and having fun with family and friends.”
A large group of club members would go out on and do “runs,” often at night or in the snow, Nancy said.
Don said he helped out with the mud festival a few times before they were married, and they both got involved in the event in January 1975. They’ve helped at every festival since then.
It’s just what we do,” Nancy said.
Their children, Brandy Jordan and Kye Frick, grew up at the mud festival, and they remain involved volunteering. Brandy’s 16-month-old daughter, Kenley, will be the third generation to attend this year.
It’s just part of our life,” Don said.
It’s the main function of the year (for the club),” Nancy said. The club focuses on it all year, and the tickets sell out quickly the day they go on sale.
I just feel the organization is honored that so many people want to attend our event,” Nancy said.
The mud festival started in the late 1960s. The U.S. Corps of Engineers would lower the level of Foster Lake during the winter, exposing the Foster lake bed. In January, club members would head onto the mud flats to play. The informal event became a regular event. It was free to start with and then the association began accepting donations from participants.
Attendance was increasing in the 1980s, Nancy said. She doesn’t remember when, but the Four-Wheelers started selling tickets.
It’s been a sold-out event ever since,” Nancy said.
Don believes attendance peaked at 5,000 tickets on the lake bed. In the 1990s, regulations started affecting the event, and eventually, the Corps closed it down.
The association moved it to a site in the hills off Berlin Road, trucking water up to ensure slick mud, and then to its current site on a pasture just west of Holley off Highway 228. Neither of the moves affected attendance except the smaller space means the event must sell fewer tickets.
At Holley, it sells about 1,500 tickets annually, Don said. He and Nancy estimated that more than 300 vehicles are on the pasture during the event.
Quite a few participants are there only to observe, he said. They barbecue and watch.
There’s picnics going on,” he said.
The Four-Wheelers Association has about 40 members, and the event will use 40 to 50 volunteers the day of the event.
In the past 40 years, the Fricks have seen a lot change, but some of it’s still the same.
There’s a lot less alcohol out there than there used to be,” Don said. “I think a lot of the people are still cautious out there driving.”
The rigs changed, especially in the 1990s.
People actually started putting more money into the rigs,” Don said. “A lot of them, that is the one time they run them, and they work on them all year.”
At Foster Lake, the lines used to stretch back to the point from the entrance near Old Hufford Road for hours, but now organizers get participants off the highway in less than two hours, Don said, and the Four-Wheelers clean the roadways afterward.
It’s a lot more formal these days. The club also has to work with Oregon Department of Transportation and Linn County in planning the event.
Making mud became an issue when the event moved to Berlin Road, but the new site is a whole lot muddier.
Not much changes on the field this year. Volunteers started preparing the field Saturday, Feb. 28, creating the drag strip, putting rock along the south edge of the field, where spectators can get the most comfortable view and drivers can take a break and grab a bite to eat at a concessions stand run by the Kiwanis Club as one of its major fund-raising events of the year.
Volunteers will work on the site throughout the week, and Saturday morning participants will arrive for a day of fun in the mud.
A few aspects of the festival haven’t changed at all.
People love the mud,” Nancy said.
And the people are friendly and helpful, Don said.
Click here for more photos from the event.
For more information, photos and videos of the event, visit its website at themud.com.