Red River Inaugural Event - Where?

All,

Out of curiosity, I've been looking into the various wheeling destinations available to us and their suitability for an official Chapter outing. My first thought was to try to obtain a closed weekend for Katemcy Rocks, but its a bit pricey ($1000) unless you can come up with 30 vehicles willing to pay for a full weekend ($50 each). Another possibility is to stick with a budget wheeling destination and go to Barnwell Mountain in Gilmer. Lastly, Superlift ORV in Hot Springs is another option. I assume we could wrangle some sponsorship for an official event to offset some costs, and possibly look at gear sales of some kind, as well, but having never planned one of these events I'm not sure of what that would entail. In the meantime, I'm looking to the folks who would consider attending one of these outings for suggestions. Even better, has anyone ever been involved in one of the National outings or another chapters events? How did they work?

x2elite said:

How do I join officially, and get my name in red? I would like to do this, and I also wouldn't mind helping to plan an event like this if it were close enough to me (like Gilmer, or Hot Springs I am pretty much directly in between the two).

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There is a sticky at the top of the forum that shows you how to go Red. We'll add you to the volunteer list for when we do Gilmer and Hot Springs events, as well. Thanks!

so chris, to clarify... we're hypothetically talking about the chapters annual event location?

clayton may be a nice, central locale... as would gilmer... but katemcy may be the better wheeling option? of those, i've only been to clayton and would be concerned about the private property thing... gilmer looks fun but are there enough trail options? katemcy looks like there's plenty of options...

next, how many days for this event? weekend? long weekend? week long? and which of those or other locations will accommodate the length?

i look forward to everyone's opinion on this thread...

Also it would be awesome if one of these locations had a camping area with electrical and water hookups as well. At least closeby if not at the actual location.

Chris lets do a head count. If we end up with enough people to swing it Katemcy would be awesome. As Rokclimbertx asked what amount of time are we talking about including Katemcy long wekend or Sat/Sun or a week. What do we get for $1000?

I would be more than happy to join in. I have know idea where any of these places are ( just moved to Fort Worth from California) But I am game providing the drive is not to far (over 6-7 hours). 4-5 hours would be better.

Ok I did the two year membership, and now my name should be Red.

probably should have thrown in:

what time of year we want to do something... keeping in mind some places close certain times of the year (summer, hunting season)... knowing our weather here in texas, fall/winter or spring would probably be optimal...

also to be considered are other chapter events and not coinciding with one that could pull from ours... i know i try to go to the moab fall fling every october...

maybe we can get the moab guys or coloradofest guys to throw in some knowledge on the planning & logistics of putting an event on...

raffle? trail leaders? registration crew?

i'll stop now... lol

I agree, I belive Barwell is the closest for everyone, but if it's in the fall/winter it's about the only option. I don't know for sure though.

rokclimbertx said:

probably should have thrown in:

what time of year we want to do something... keeping in mind some places close certain times of the year (summer, hunting season)... knowing our weather here in texas, fall/winter or spring would probably be optimal...

also to be considered are other chapter events and not coinciding with one that could pull from ours... i know i try to go to the moab fall fling every october...

maybe we can get the moab guys or coloradofest guys to throw in some knowledge on the planning & logistics of putting an event on...

raffle? trail leaders? registration crew?

i'll stop now... lol

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Talk to BJ at Hot Springs. His e-mail is [email protected] They are interested in hosting an event for us there...

I am going to speak to BJ in person when I am up there next weekend. He is or was a red member here. ORVpark is his handle.

I have also contacted barnwell to see if I can get us involved in a trail sponsorship program, group rates etc.

goodburbon said:

I have also contacted barnwell to see if I can get us involved in a trail sponsorship program, group rates etc.

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that is a great idea...

goodburbon said:

I am going to speak to BJ in person when I am up there next weekend. He is or was a red member here. ORVpark is his handle.

I have also contacted barnwell to see if I can get us involved in a trail sponsorship program, group rates etc.

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Cool. One of the tails up there is sponsored by my other club. Its the trail X-Way.

great idea.


- Scot

Oh and the pro for Hot Springs is the fact its open 7 days a week and a dedicated off road park.

Which would be great if we had no jobs and lots of money.

yea, right..


money = evil.
- Scot

The only thing evil about money is having to work for it everyday. If you are interested in changing that in a couple years time PM me. There are other legal ways of doing it.

Stacey PMd me for advice and I will help out however I can.

Let me start off by saying I've been involved with the planning and logistics of all 4 ColoradoFest events.

Here's kind of a break-down of what to take into consideration while planning the event:

EVENT DATE(S):
Gain feedback from chapter members as to what date(s) will work the best.When a date is decided on set it and stick to it.The more you change the date(s), the less time you have to prepare and problems could arise.

LOCATION:
Narrow it down to a couple of locations (which it looks like you're already working on) and find out costs, check availability and ability to accomodate a group event (this is important). Finding accomodations a group can be a hassle (not usually) but just as easily can work to your benefit, i.e. cheaper rates.Next have the chapter members and others, that are attending ,vote on a final location and, again, stick to that location.Make sure everyone is aware of any and all camping and related fees.

TRAILS/TRAIL SCHEDULE:
Post up a list of all trails available in the area you have chosen for the event and guage interest/feedback by the attendees.Once trails are decided on set a trail schedule.Try to have at least two different trail runs available every day- maybe an easy trail and a hard trail- to give attendees a choice.When setting a trail schedule be sure to show a breif "note" about each trail- hard, easy, all day run, muddy, etc. to give attendees an idea of trail difficulty and general condition.Trail schedules dont have to be "set in stone",you can leave a little flexibility in this part of the event if you choose.
Make sure you have copies of the vehicle safety/inspection list for attendees to sign after event "officials" make their inspections.

SPONSORSHIP:
Designate a person to handle sponsorship tasks (preferrably a chapter officer).Get in touch with National BOD to get briefed on National sponsorship by-laws.As I understand it, you can approach vendors who aren't paid National sponsors on your own.If they're paid National sponsors then you have to let the BOD (National Sponsorship Director) handle it- last I knew we didn't have a full-time Director for this.Please verify all of this sponsorship info i've given you with the National BOD.

RAFFLE:
IF you want to have a raffle its entirely your choice - I personally would suggest having one but its not necessary.Secure raffle prizes through sponsors but it is absolutely vital that you acknowledge/thank/invite any and all sponsors that contribute- they're good to us, we need to be good to them .We usually make a thread after the event with pictures of the winners and contact info for the vendors as well as send thank you letters to all participating vendors.As you get prizes secured let attendees know what sponsors are donating prizes.You can either tell what all the prize(s) are before the event or you can throw out little "teasers" to peak the curiosity of attendees.You can buy rolls of raffle tickets at most office supply stores.

EVENT DINNER:
We usually have a big dinner/BB-Q at the end of the event (with the raffle afterwrads).We use chapter funds for the initial cost and figure out a dollar amount per dinner and charge accordingly (usually $5- $7 / prerson, kids free) just to make that money back- no profit (If you want to make a profit thats entirely up to you).In the past we've had chapter members bring the food, picked up food at the end of the event at a local grocery store/Sam's Club/ deli, or like this year, we had a local resteraunt cater the food.

One last tip: COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY ,especially between event planners, as well as attendees, it will make things a lot smoother. :thumbup: :thumbup:

I hope this outline will be able to help you and feel free to PM me if I can further help.

Good luck guys.:cheers: