Small-town invasion

Motorcycle Rally May Roar into Quiet Mancos

By Ken Wright, 4-27-06

	Photo courtesy Rally in the Rockies

The Rally in the Rockies, a big Labor Day weekend motorcycle rally held since 2002 in Ignacio, Colo., may move to little Mancos, Colo., this summer after negotiations with Ignacio faltered. The organizer’s website still lists Ignacio as the planned site for the event from Aug. 30 – Sept. 4, but Rally owner Dan Bradshaw met last week with Montezuma County officials about moving the event to a ranch just outside of Mancos. The Durango Herald reports that two of three commissioners expressed interest in the idea.

“I really don’t have a problem with it because it is a benefit,” Commissioner Larrie Rule told the Herald, referring to the fact that the Rally is a non-profit entity that gives proceeds to charities. “It would be a big money-raiser for the community, there’s no doubt about that.”

Should both Mancos and Ignacio fail as venues, Bradshaw has said he will move the rally out of the area.

The Rally was created after the Four Corners Iron Horse Rally, which had run a motorcycle gathering in Ignacio since 1993, failed to stage an event in 2002. In 2003, both gatherings were held in Ignacio, drawing more than 20,000 participants. Last year, the Rally was held at Ignacio’s Sky Ute Events Center, on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, and was attended by thousands of bikers (while no numbers were released, the attendance was lower than previous years blamed on Hurricane Katrina, high gas prices, and a competing gathering in Loveland, Colo.). No deaths or major crimes were reported last year.

Mancos is a 110-year old ranching town of 1,100 residents sitting between the Mesa Verde and the La Plata Mountains in the lush (for near-desert country, anyway) Mancos River Valley. Were it to move, the Rally would be held at Echo Basin Ranch, a private 600-acre property about 6 miles outside of Mancos, with a concert area, cabins, and camping space.

Even though the event would be out of town, Mancos would surely feel the burst of people. The historic downtown and turn-of-the-century neighborhoods feature only a half-dozen or so restaurants and bars, a single grocery store, and minimal downtown shopping. The Rally would also affect nearby Cortez and Durango, which already receives loads of Rally traffic from Ignacio.

Presently planned for the Rally in its Ignacio form is a wide range of events including pre-Rally scenic rides around the region, “biker bull busting,” a sexy underwear contest, ago-go cage-dancing contest, church services, and concerts by classic rockers Great White and Bad Company.

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