Phillip Cleveland, of Olympia, smiles for the camera as he prepares to cross the finish line of the Ride the Willapa event in Pe Ell. Cleveland rode for the second year on Saturday.
Participants in the second-annual Ride the Willapa event Saturday pull in at Rainbow Falls State Park, where many riders chose to spend the night before riding back to Chehalis on Sunday.
Ride the Willapa has generated so much buzz leading up to the third-annual event that three weeks before the festival, campout tickets have already sold out, organizers say.
The event starts Saturday, June 23 at 9 a.m. and lasts until Sunday, June 24 at 4 p.m.
Lewis County Community Trails, an area nonprofit, hosts the event to raise money for developing the Willapa Hills Trail. The ride takes participants of all levels through the Chehalis River Valley of southwest Washington.
“Net proceeds from ticket sales goes to help grant match small projects and anything that needs to be taken care of along the trail,” said Chris Brewer, Lewis County Community Trails Board of Directors president and lead organizer for the event.
Last year the event had 285 registered riders and brought in $7,000. Participation that year doubled from the inaugural 2016 event.
According to the event page on Eventbrite, “Ride the Willapa will eventually expand to offer bike riding events spanning the entire length of the Willapa Hills Trail, which extends from Chehalis, WA to nearly the Pacific coast in South Bend, WA. The trail, which used to be a railroad grade, is badly in need of repairs, especially toward its western terminus. Ride the Willapa contributes all of its proceeds toward projects to make this happen.”
Tickets for the two-day event are sold out, but single-day tickets are still available.
“The difference between the two rides is the campout portion,” Brewer said. “Our campout site this year is Rainbow Falls State Park. We got a permit to basically do 250 campers along with our ride.”
Although the Rainbow Falls Campout is sold out, participants can make alternative lodging arrangements through the Rainbow Falls State Park reservation system. The Discover Lewis County lodging site has a list of options in the area as well.
“Basically on either day riders could go 26 miles and come back,” Brewer said.
Event organizers still encourage single-day riders to visit Rainbow Falls State Park, which will have a pop-up farmers market.
The event begins and ends at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis, which is located at 100 SW Veterans Way in Chehalis. Although tickets are available at the door, admission will not guarantee a t-shirt or swag bag. Tickets are available on eventbrite.com.
