Team OTW at The Hurricane Mountain Bike Fest
On a sunny weekend at the end of March the OTW crew and a few hundred other mountain biking aficionados gathered in a little town in Southern Utah called Hurricane. On the outskirts of St. George, Hurricane boasts world-class mountain biking trails along with incredible natural surroundings and wide open views of the desert. If you’ve made any pilgrimages to Zion or Bryce Canyon, you know what I’m talking about!
We were there for two reasons. First, we love adventure. Second, we love supporting events and event producers with our awesome crowd control barricades. We get so much love from event and festival producers, we make it a point to give back as much as we can. This year we chose to support the Hurricane Mountain Bike Festival by donating all the crowd barricades and signage they needed to block off the entire perimeter of the festival.
This year, not only did we enclose the block adjacent to the community center, we also created a separate space for the beer garden and wrapped a huge section of lawn that was used for mountain bike skills clinics, a movie night, log pull and between those activities, a fun place for all the kids to ride on ramps and test their maneuvering skills!
Within the section of street closed off by our billboard barricades, festival sponsors showed off their demo bikes and fitted all the eager attendees. Signs on the barricades pointed attendees toward the shuttles that would take them up to the trailheads. It’s funny how many questions can be answered with just two signs and some arrows printed on them! “Shuttles are that way,” said no one this year! Sponsors also got their logos in front of the crowd with PVC signs printed especially for the festival and attached with bolts directly to the barricades. No steel, zip ties or barricade covers needed!
Since OTW has been supporting the Hurricane Mountain Bike Festival in various ways over the last couple years, this year we decided to amp up our presence and really come through for the event planners. In addition to coordinating the delivery of all the barricades, our events director also sat down with Over The Edge (the bike shop that produces the festival) to create a site map, coordinate set-up and tear-down of the barricades, coordinate and deliver a sound system and radios, plus create a volunteer wellness tent where event volunteers could get water, coffee and other essentials.
Over The Edge was stoked with how the festival turned out this year. Attendance numbers were up and everyone is brimming with ideas on how to make the festival even better next year. The folks in attendance were stoked as well, many of them returning fans. Besides tons of rad demo bikes, people gathered around picnic tables and blankets to share stories, chain tats, sunshine and delicious food. There were plenty of food trucks, like Dough Broughs serving wood-fired pizza, and Zion Brewing serving cold beers. Check out some of the other sponsors that made this year’s festival such a hit.
The OTW crew didn’t work TOO too hard. Most of the team found time to get out on the trails and bask in some Southern Utah glory. There were a few flat tires, a couple miles walked in riding shoes, and a rescue(!) but at the end of the weekend the crew gathered one more time at River Rock Roasting Co. for a festival breakfast and the wins outweighed the trials! Then it was back to work striking barricades, loading them up on pallets and waving goodbye to another successful event.
Are you an event producer who could use some insight or help planning your next event? Not only do our barricades look so much better than steel, they’re way faster to set up and way cheaper to store. They also support advertising panels so your sponsors get as much visibility as possible and your event looks polished and professional. Feel free to get in touch to learn more about our barricades and event services!
