By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News Editor
February 25, 2008

Updated and “green,” Gorge Games are coming back after a four-year hiatus.

Director Josh Ryan and operations supervisor Sally Leach of Portland told the Heights Business Association (HBA) Thursday that 3,000 to 5,000 people are expected for the revitalized games in Hood River July 17-20, “but we’re prepared for more.”

Ryan said a deal to nationally televise Gorge Games is being hammered out by former Trailblazers’ executive Steve Patterson.

Ryan helped organize last July’s American Diabetes Association, Summit to Surf event, where he heard a common refrain:

“People kept saying ‘this is like the Gorge Games’,” Ryan said. “I didn’t know what the Gorge Games were.”

But he soon found out and realized that the community was ready for a return of the summer sports extravaganza that Peg Lalor and others started in 1996.

The new games will be based at the Port of Hood River and other venues around Hood River and Klickitat counties.

The Heights meeting also introduced the new Chamber of Commerce director, Mary Closson, and Stu Watson of Hood River, the new Downtown Business Association director. Both said they look forward to working with the Gorge Games organizers

Gorge Games will stay the same in some respects, with its hub at Adventure Village on the Port marina green, and competition in windsurfing, kiteboarding, sailing, kayaking and running. New events will include skateboarding, riverboarding and a half-marathon. There will be rock climbing and kids’ activities as in years before. HBA members were informed that a health walk, in association with Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital, will take place on the Heights.

Another similarity to past years will be the dependence upon volunteers, as seen in past Gorge Games and in the Summit to Surf.

“Volunteers are the fuel that drives the engine,” Ryan said. What’s also new is that Gorge Games will expand to a winter competition in February 2009.

And Gorge Games sites will have no garbage cans. “We’ll have recycling and composting stations throughout the events, and use biodegradable cups and other products” he said, adding that organizers plan a ban on disposable water bottles.

“Our goal is to be a fully sustainable event,” Ryan said.

“We have the opportunity to do this event unlike any event of its kind has been done,” Ryan said.

Gorge Games headquarters will be in the former Carousel Museum building at Third and Oak streets in Hood River. Ryan can be reached at (503) 810-4380.

He told the HBA that the 2008 Gorge Games is still seeking sponsors and has no formal relationship to past Gorge Games. His production and marketing company purchased the rights to the name, as well as data to assist in developing new games.

Ryan said the 2008 games will appeal to three basic groups: hard core athletes, “weekend warriors” who will participate in selected events, and people who have never been to the Gorge “and want to come and enjoy this scenic place.”