The secondmountain bike race is around the corner, and the event organizers are hoping to secure a new location for its afterparty.
After a huge success in its inaugural year, the folks behind the Haulback race are expecting almost double the number of participants—between 200 to 300—when it returns on June 21.
As such, the venue for the afterparty needs to grow in size too, so they’ve applied to the District of 撸奶社区and the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) to host the event at Hop Creek Farm.
The 2024 Haulback race after-event was held at the Backyard Pub in Valleycliffe.
At the regular council meeting on April 15, District community development planner Aja Philp said the ALC would be the ones to have the final say on the event location.
“The majority of the property is within the agricultural land reserve (ALR). The ALR use regulation allows gathering for an event, but it limits the number of people that are allowed to gather to the event to no more than 150,” Philp said.
“As the Haulback race is intending to exceed the 150-person attendance limit, the non-farm use application process has been triggered. If council does decide to forward the application, it is the ALC who will make the final decision on allowing the event at the farm.
Philp said that because event organizers and Hop Creek Farm owners have stated “they'll make every effort to avoid negative impacts to the farmland,” staff were recommending council authorize the application to be forwarded to the ALC.
Hop Creek Farms is a 33-acre farm that sustainably and ethically raises livestock, grows vegetables, produce and barley. They also have a petting zoo with miniature cows and sheep near the farm market.
The Haulback is described as a point-to-point mass-start race. This year, the start and finish line for the race would be located off Hop Creek Farm—but in close proximity—while the afterparty would take place on the non-farmed portions of the property.
A report to council states that Hop Creek Farm would receive “no compensation for hosting this bike race event.”
It also said that the event aims to fill the void left by the historic Test of Metal race, which came to an end in 2016.
“The event will include carefully managed entertainment elements, including a designated food truck area, live band setup, and DJ to create a complete community experience,” reads the report.
“This event will take place over a single day, and there will be no loss of agricultural prodding land or crops as a result of this one-day event.”
Council comment
With a smaller than usual council line-up—only Mayor Armand Hurford, and councillors Jenna Stoner, Chris Pettingill and John French were in attendance—the decision to support the application was almost unanimous.
“In speaking with the organizer, I was impressed with the lengths they're going to, around discouraging people from driving to the start and finish and putting things and systems in place to really try and keep the number of vehicles that are on our roads connected to this event to a minimum,” Coun. French said.
“I have no doubt that the folks involved with this property are more committed to farming than they are to special events, and I also know from the discussion with them that special events like this are an important part of making their farm operations successful.”
Coun. Stoner echoed her colleagues' sentiments and said that farmers should be able to use events like this to generate extra revenue.
“I do think there's very clear examples of how important it is to be able to allow farmers, across the board, to have a variety of options for generating revenue, as well as for getting folks onto their properties to showcase some of the farming that is occurring within the community,” she said.
“I think that this proposal helps to achieve that and showcase kind of what is happening on that property, I think it has a community benefit as well, so I'm happy to support this and leave the ALC to determine whether the size of the event is appropriate or not.”
Hurford said he was “quite excited” to see Hop Creek Farms be involved with the Haulback race and use it as an avenue to connect with the community.
“I think it's likely safe to assume that this isn't a huge money making endeavour for whoever is involved in likely any aspect of this. If this was to be a large wedding or music festival or something along those lines, I might feel different about this application,” he said.
“But given the context of what this is, which is a grassroots mountain bike event, which is a huge part of our social fabric of our community, I'm happy to support this.”
Coun. Pettingill was the only member to oppose the motion as he felt that the application should include council comment directing the ALC to “consider whether this use would negatively impact the farmability because of increase in land values.”
As the non-farming use application was endorsed by council, it will now be determined by the ALC as to whether the Haulback afterparty will be at Hop Creek Farms or if they’ll have to find another location.
For more information on the event visit the or .
