2B | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2019 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Elkton wine tour mixes two local favorites
PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/CG SENTINEL
Cyclists head to the next winery at the Wine About Your
Bike wine bike tour in Elkton.
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
there are a lot of people that think, ‘Oh that sounds beau-
tiful, but daunting’ so this is just a really sweet ride. People
can get on their bikes and enjoy wine and at the end of it feel
like, ‘yeah, I did a wine bike tour, that’s right!’
“And I will say that the route here is planned really well.
You start at the farthest out winery and by the time you’ve
done a tasting, you’re in town. So you could be walking
your bike if you need to,” Hamann continued, alluding to
the possibility that participants may enjoy themselves a little
too much before making it back to the starting point at the
ECEC.
“We do offer a shuttle service for people, their wine and
their bikes if they need it,” added DeBonis.
As with so many events in Elkton, the end result went
beyond the activities themselves and became a testament to
the ability and passion of Elkton residents to come togeth-
er and bring vibrancy to a rural community in a way that
many other similar areas in America have been unable to
accomplish.
“I love that all the local businesses coordinate and coop-
erate. There are so many events down here in the summer
and they’re impressive events,” said Jenny Peddicord, a Port-
land resident whose whole family came down for the event.
“I think being a rural community that’s one of the things
we find with newer events is that it does take awhile to get
that traction … here it’s a combination of word of mouth
and maybe a few of the right people coming and deciding
it’s really good then bringing more people next year,” said
Hamann. “It’s got kind of a slow boil to it in terms of new
events taking off so there’s a certain amount of patience and
ingenuity, then waiting for the right combination of people
saying, ‘next year, let’s plan around that and make sure we
get to Elkton.’”
Participants paid $25 per ticket if purchased before July
31, and $30 if purchased after. Included in the ticket were
wine tastings at all participating wineries, a commemo-
rative water bottle, a morning yoga session to kick off the
event, a free coffee at the ECEC’s Outpost Cafe and a com-
plimentary scoop of ice cream at Elkton’s Farm Pickins Mer-
cantile. After the cycling and wine tastings were completed,
attendees were treated to a free concert by Cottage Grove’s
own Windy Ridge band.
The Oregon economy has gone through many chang-
es over the years, but one constant in its modern history
is agriculture and fitness or, in this specific case, wine and
cycling.
On Saturday, August 17 the Elkton Community Edu-
cation Center [ECEC] put on their second annual Wine
About Your Bike event. Around 25 attendees bought their
tickets online - or in person for latecomers - and headed to
scenic Elkton to hop on their bicycles and enjoy wines from
four different local wineries.
“Wine and cycling, what’s not to love?” said one attend-
ee who came all the way from Salem and summarized the
simple pleasure of enjoying two of Oregon’s most popular
industries simultaneously.
This was just the second year of the still-growing event,
but organizers were very pleased with their results so far.
“Last year, we weren’t really sure what to expect,” said Ka-
tie Debonis who, along with Hannah Sperandio, were the
key organizers and planners of the event. “We kind of threw
it together. Well, I hate to say threw it together, but it was
more last-minute planning than this year. We were like, ‘if
we have five people, it’s a success’ and we ended up with 25
people so that was great.”
“We were trying to think of events on a larger scale to
draw tourism to Elkton … so it was like ‘what else can we
do? Oh, a bike ride and incorporate wine!’ so it just came
together like that.”
For those who find the idea of combining alcohol and
cycling a little intimidating, Elkton provides ideal size and
geography for this kind of event as the longest route was a
mere 16 miles while also covering every stop on the tour.
“I think it’s brilliant,” said ECEC coordinator Marjory
PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/CG SENTINEL
Hamann, “because there are wine bike tours out there and After wine tasting, cyclists were treated to a performance by
they’re often fifty miles rolling through bike country and Cottage Grove’s Windy Ridge band.
Heritage from B1
PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/CG SENTINEL
A crowd looks on at the Lumberjack Show.
nians’ childhoods, but sees
these ongoing fairs as a way
to reconnect with the past.
“Seeing what the fair
used to be like,” said Gar-
boden when asked what he
hopes attendees can learn
from this event. “This is
what most fairs used to be
like. I remember when I
was a little kid in the 50s,
we went to the county fair
up in Deschutes county
and Lane county was a little
bigger, but it was basically
like this. You’d look at the
tractors, see a show on the
stage, look at the little crit-
ters. It was really a fair and
you enjoyed it.”
Based on the number of
cars jammed into the fair-
grounds parking lot, Cot-
tage Grove’s own celebra-
tion of past industries and
skills was enjoyed by many
and fairs like these may
also provide an opportu-
nity to reinvigorate things
that may have seemed lost.
“Today’s society is so
bent on sending kids to col-
lege and there’s not enough
in the trade schools, farm-
ing or agriculture so they
come here and they see
something, another option,
and maybe they get an in-
terest in it,” said Patrick
Dearth, an event volunteer
from Creswell.
Garboden also sees op-
portunity in events like
these.
“You learn common
sense and a sense of duty
because, you know, the
4-H critters gotta be fed
every day and taken care
of. And when you go in
the woods, like the loggers,
you gotta be careful. Some
of them weren’t and they
got brought back in a bag,
but it’s a skill. People think,
‘well, anyone can cut a tree
down with a saw,’ but you
can’t. It’s a skill that takes
care and patience.”
It may be a celebration
of the past, but the skills
and crafts on exhibit pro-
vide the younger genera-
tions with ample learning
opportunities, giving them
potential tools for their fu-
ture endeavors regardless
of specific trade.
Support the Carousel!
Men from
S.U.R.F.
Relive th
e Old
August
25th - 4pm
Calvary
Chapel
- $5
Days of t
he
Is that A/C not blowing as cold as last year?
SUMMER A/C SERVICE SPECIAL
$
99
*
(Normally
$136.00)
Bring your car in today and take advantage of our
Summer A/C service special!
*Excludes automatic temperature control vehicles. Includes up to 2 lbs. of R134A
HOME PRIDE
Painting and Repair LLC
Over 30 years of experience
Schedule Now
For Fall Interior Painting
Get ahead of the crowd!
Now is a good time to schedule for
Spring and Summer 2020 exterior repaints
Call us for a Free Quote!
“We do small remodels,
home repairs and decks!
Serving Lane & North Douglas Counties
541-735-0089
ccb# 217560
FRIDAY / SEPTEMBER 13, 2019 • 12:00 PM TO 6:00 PM
• TOP HOT RODS, RAT RODS & CLASSIC CARS TO SHINE
SATURDAY / SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 • 9:00 AM TO 4:00 PM
• Car Show • Cool Music
• Raffle Tickets for Sale - Winner pulled every half hour
• 50/50 Raffle
• Pinewood Derby Race
• Merchant Awards, People’s Choice & Best of Show Presentation
• Cruise in Historic Old Town Florence
FLORENCE’S
12TH ANNUAL
CAR SHOW
rodsnrhodies.org