The years Summer Stomp will be the very last.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/Summer Stomp
June 28, 2019 - 3:30 PM
SICAMOUS - After 30 years, organizers of the Summer Stomp biker festival will be hanging up their leather jackets and chaps for one last time.
The three-day North Okanagan biker campground musical festival, Summer Stomp, will come to an end after the event in Sicamous July 18, 19, and 20.
What started as six bikers having a birthday party in 1989 grew into a regional wide three-day festival that attracted almost 3,000 bikers in its heyday.
Former president of the Summer Stomp committee Steve Hammer said the registered society did not renew its registration for 2019 and this year's festival will be the last.
"It's bittersweet," Hammer, who has been at the helm of organizing the event for over 20-years, said.
The festival, which ran in Silvercreek for over 15 years before moving to Sicamous six years ago, attracted anywhere between 1,500 and 2,850 bikers each year and Hammer said although numbers have still remained strong, finding willing volunteers who are prepared to take the financial risk is a challenge.
Attendance fell in 2017 due to the forest fires and last year's Stomp clashed with other events going on around the region.
Some aspects though, are out of his hands.
"We've all got older," he said. "A lot of us started out riding from event to event, and that's what we did all summer every weekend. We now have grandchildren."
Hammer said the society ran as a not-for-profit and donated to local charities. He hopes this years event will manage to put him back in the black and raise a decent amount for charity.
While people may have preconceived ideas about what a biker festival is like, Hammer said in 30 years they've never had any problems.
With the tag line that says "no attitudes," Hammer said the festival is friendly and a lot of fun and the final festival will be no exception.
This year's Stomp will feature bike games that include a slow race, an obstacle course and a game called 'potato in a haystack,' (similar concept as musical chairs but on motorbikes), plus nightly live music, plenty of food and beer gardens.
"We've designed the 30th to be like the old-time old school bike rallies," he said. "Hopefully everybody that comes will have a great time and we walk away with our heads high."
Summer Stomp takes place in Sicamous, July 18,19 and 20. For more information go here.
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