Mud bog and country music event set for June
A new mud bog and country music event is scheduled to be held in St. Regis this summer. It is a three-day event from June 23 through the 25 put on by Shannon Anderson. He purchased property on the north side of St. Regis and is building an amphitheater and other accommodations for the event.
Anderson, who also owns the Bootlegger Bar in Superior, plans on hosting 12 bands in addition to the modified and super modified mud bog races, with unmodified races held on Sunday. He presented the event at the April 7 commissioners meeting in Superior. The meeting gave the public an opportunity to ask questions and express their concerns about security, traffic, noise and the wear on the roads.
Between 1,500 to 3,000 people are anticipated to attend the three-day event. The facility can hold up to 6,000 but since this is the first year, Anderson isn’t expecting that big of a turnout. He will have a full security team for the event, as well as a full medical team. The area will be enclosed with a privacy fence and there will be traffic control in place.
“There will be limited congestion in the area,” he said, “the entrance will be up St. Regis Street and will flow one way. There will be one way out and that will be onto Highway 135.”
He also plans on tapering the events down slowly and so people will filter out rather than everything ending all at once, which would cause heavy traffic on Sunday evening when the event closes at 4 p.m. It was also discussed to post 10 to 15 miles per hour on St. Regis Street since there are children in the area.
There will be camping and parking available along with food vendors. Regarding noise, an engineer tested the levels from the stage and it will be at about 75 decimals at the nearest home.
“That’s about the same as freeway noise,” said Anderson.
The campground will be approximately 100 to 200 feet from the closest house. Questions were raised about zoning laws for this type of event. Since its being held on private property, there are no zoning restrictions said Commissioner Roman Zylawy, “it’s not commercially zoned. In Mineral County we don’t have many rules, and you have even less rules when you’re in a city or town that’s unincorporated. There’s no mayor and there’s no town council for St. Regis. And whether it’s a gravel pit or a business venture, the only time we can require (zoning laws) is if it’s a subdivision.”
Anderson said he is only planning on holding three events a year at that location. The next one will be a motorcycle race.
“I’ve talked to Sheriff Bauer, (County Planner) Tim Read, and the hospital is fully aware that we are holding this event and we’ll have a standby ambulance there. We are taking every appropriate measure that we possibly can to ensure that this event goes off without problems or incident.”
He also pointed out that the influx of people will help bring revenue into area businesses including the restaurants, stores and motels. He said they are also using local businesses for things like the septic service.