Killington Classic 2010
We setup at the Vendor's Village at the Killington Classic and explore the Classic.
The coverage area for North Country Rider Magazine covers Western Vermont so I was intrigued when I saw a booth to promote the Killington Classic at Americade‘s Tour Expo being held at the Lake George Forum. At the time, one of the big holes that we had in the magazine was obtaining the events that were being held in the Western Vermont area. This seemed to me to be an opportunity to set up a registration booth at the Killington Classic and maybe make some contacts.
I was fortunate enough to meet Seth Webb who was recently hired to be the Director of Economic Development for the Town of Killington. While talking to Seth I mentioned our need to get our hands around the motorcycle events being held in Western Vermont. It so happens that the Killington Chamber of Commerce and the Rutland Regional Chamber of Commerce have an initiative to make the Rutland-Killington area ground zero for motorcycle touring in Western Vermont. To that end, they have placed all of the known events on a schedule of events on the Rutland and Killington web sites. Seth suggested that we scavenge the data from the sites for our schedule of events. Mission accomplished, and we have had those events on our schedule since June 2010.
The magazine made arrangements to establish a registration booth at the Vendor Village during the Killington Classic and we did that. We were able to obtain over thirty new subscribers as well as our first international subscribers, but more importantly we were able to show people that we exist and those riders that we talked to were enthusiastic about the magazine.
Enough about us, let us talk about the Killington Classic as an event that you should/must attend. First if you think that this is Americade, don’t. It is much smaller but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The Adirondacks offer some of the best scenery and riding but Western Vermont is right on par. The event itself was just very laid back and people just seemed to have a great time without being rowdy or getting out of hand. For those of you who have been to Killington before, you know that there is a two lane access road that leads to the Killington basin and The Killington Classic is spread the length of this access road. The Vendor Village was set up at the Wobbly Barn and that brought back some skiing memories. I remember being rained in during the winter more than once at “The Barn”. Further up the road at Moguls, they were having a pig roast with live entertainment and there was a custom bike show at On The Rocs. The Red Knights were holding a tour and there were several self guided tours available as
The highlight of the Classic has to be the parade from Killington down Mendon Mountain into Rutland VT. on Friday night for a good old fashioned block party. How cool is it that the downtown theatre was showing Easy Rider that night.
The one thing that surprised me the most was the total lack of law enforcement at the event. We were there for two days and we saw only on State Trooper and he was talking to a lift operator at Killington. As time goes on and the event grows that may change but it was refreshing to see riders behaving themselves and the police not having to feel the need to be present at the event.
We were proud to be a small part of the Killington Classic this year. This is a wonderful event in a wonderful setting surrounded by spectacular scenery and an environment conducive to having a great riding experience. You should make every effort to attend the Killington Classic in 2011.
