The Anacortes Oyster Run hit a rut in the road but didn’t take a spill.
Organizers announced last month they would cancel the Oyster Run, held every September in Anacortes since the 1980s and reputed to be the largest motorcycle run in the Pacific Northwest.
About a week later, Oyster Run organizers took to Facebook to announce the gathering was back on. The decision won’t become official until the Anacortes City Council votes to approve $10,000 in funding at its Monday, July 10 meeting.
Depending on the weather, 10,000 to 20,000 bikers roll into Anacortes for the event, coming from as far away as Alaska, Arizona and Montana for a massive weekend get-together and a major economic boon for the city of 18,000.
“It generates a lot of hotel/motel beds,” council member Ryan Walters said in a Wednesday, July 5 interview. The additional lodging tax alone, Walters added, might cover the city’s support for the event this year.
Oyster Run organizers didn’t return a request for comment, but Treasurer Jeff Arnold told Bellingham radio station 92.9 KISM the event committee was surprised in 2022 to get a bill for city fire and police service amounting to $15,500. The typical cost for first-responder overtime at Oyster Run had been $10,000 in previous years, according to an email from Walters to Anacortes officials.
The additional expense for police and fire protection, combined with escalating costs for everything from insurance to portable toilets, prompted organizers to announce the event’s cancellation, Arnold told KISM.
City council member Anthony Young convened a special meeting of the city’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee on June 23, and the committee voted unanimously to give $10,000 to the Oyster Run to convince organizers to host the event on its scheduled date this year, Sept. 24.
“Hotels are packed during Oyster Run, so it clearly attracts tourists and generates lodging tax dollars,” Walters said in his email.
The council will vote on the advisory committee’s recommendation at its Monday night meeting. Walters said he was confident council would approve the funding.
