UPDATE: Snohomish County Parks has provided further information on this topic.
MONROE — Until public outcry may have reversed the decision, motocross events were being booted from the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. The county wasn't going to continue hosting the sport in the horse arena.
A reversal March 16 from county parks staff granted a one-year reprieve for promoters WHR Motorsports to run one last season.
In the letter, parks division manager Kara Underwood wrote that further renewals wouldn't be happening "due to building impacts, indoor air quality and conflicting uses of the arena."
The county wanted to eliminate motocross this year to make the horse arena usable year-round for equestrians, say emails from county fairgrounds management shared with the Tribune.
The arena hosts open horse riding and pro rodeos; it's one piece of a larger equestrian park at the fairgrounds.
The fairgrounds has had a 37-year relationship with promoters WHR Motorsports, which holds amateur indoor motocross dirt bike races as well as ATV and go-kart races on winter weekends.
WHR also hosted weekly instruction lessons on how to ride dirtbikes and Friday night open practices to challenge the whoop-de-whoops and humps of the track surface in a non-competitive setting.
About 40% to 50% of the people they saw each year came to do these activities, WHR Motorsports' owner Lee Collins said.
The fairgrounds' operations supervisor filled him in by email on why the contract wasn’t renewed. Upper management within county parks made the decision.
"We are wanting to grow the equestrian park and make changes to compete with other equestrian facilities and we finally have management willing to take those steps," fairgrounds operations supervisor Brenda Granstrom wrote.
WHR’s contracts are on a year-to-year basis. Soon after motocross season ended this January, it was not renewed.
Possibly losing Monroe cut deep among motocrossers. In some families, dirt biking is a recreational outlet for the kids.
People reached county council members, who weren't aware of the change. Mayors and county council members contacted county administrators.
One day later, County Council members Sam Low and Jared Mead set up a meeting with a county administrator to discuss the situation.
"A few minutes before the meeting, we received an internal email of the decision to extend winter indoor racing," Low said.
Collins received the extension offer later that afternoon.
A dozen or so motocross racers from Eastern Washington make annual hotel stays at Evergreen Inn and Suites and other local hotels.
"Some of the people you make friends with," Evergreen’s front desk manager Anita Gavan said.
Comparatively, though, the horse show circuit is a much bigger draw.
Gavan said last week she already had 100 advance bookings for horse events in the summer at the fairgrounds. People from as far as Texas book rooms, she said.
The motocross community may remain at a loss on where to continue the sport after leaving the fairgrounds.
The next closest appropriate venue that's usable is in eastern Oregon, Collins said.
What winter motocross needs is enough indoor heating and enough indoor ventilation to create a safe environment. Few venues are up to par, Collins said.
Equestrian arenas can't just add motocross. It puts them at risk of noise complaints that lead to cease-and-desist letters, he said. And bigger arenas that bring in dirt for pro motocross and monster truck shows aren’t financially feasible for an amateur series.
Motocrossers say their sport is getting pushed out of the state. People point out that surface paving at the fairgrounds in Pasco and in Grays Harbor County brought down dirt biking there.
A person representing Evergreen Speedway said it’s not interested in having motocross return. In 2020, outdoor motocross racing and a dirtbike school ended operations.
