Shoshone County hosts successful trio of events

It was a busy weekend for Shoshone County’s local organizations, including the Silver Valley Chamber, the Wallace Gyro Club, and Silver Mountain – each hosting a unique event that brought people together throughout the community.

In Wallace, Gyro Days kicked off on Wednesday and didn’t let up through Saturday afternoon.

Each night, the bright lights of the carnival rides illuminated Cedar and Sixth Streets and the sounds of laughter echoed up and down the historic downtown area.

The Lead Creek Derby was one for the ages, with colder-than-normal weather, elevated water depth, and some unusual wind – the ball took longer than its historic average but was still a few minutes shy of the all-time record.

Clocking in at five hours, 11 minutes, and 10 seconds, there were plenty of thrills as the giant Gyro Ball navigated the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River from Mullan to Wallace.

“The ball started off very well, passing through Mullan in very good time,” Gyro member Mike Dexter said. “Then it started to get hung up on brush along the banks. Every year the brush gets longer and catches the ball more often. Then for the second half of the trip, the wind began blowing upstream, which always slows the ball. And finally, the ball got hung up near Wallace where the access to the creek is very difficult for the ball-runners to free the ball.”

Dexter himself got to experience the chilly mountain water when as he freed up the ball and subsequently slipped and found himself completely submerged.

Rick Lahargoue of Burke, was the lucky winner of the derby and received 50 real silver dollars for buying the winning ticket.

The real winners were the Gyros, who sold over 30,000 tickets for the event – all of the proceeds are used to fund Gyro scholarships and various other youth activities every year, as well as provides financial support for the carnival.

“It was a terrific Derby all around. Great crowds all three days,” Dexter said. “The carnival was the best one we have had in many years.”

In Kellogg, Kegs and Kickstands went off without a hitch and organizer Sarah Murphy was thrilled with the turnout – especially when the event was up against some heavy hitters across the community.

Kegs and Kickstands is a community biking event where the participants visit businesses throughout Kellogg, get credit for each stop on their map, collect a prize from each business, grab a drink, and then head to the next location.

Once they’ve completed all of the stops, it’s back to the Silver Valley Chamber office for a few more drinks and the final prize drawings.

12 businesses participated – which made for a full afternoon for the riders.

“We had prizes for every participant, ranging from beer to bike parts and bike gift certificates to fresh flowers and even new swag from Sol&Serre,” Murphy told the News-Press. We beat our participation number from last year and do not plan to do it on a derby weekend again. Next year will be back to the last weekend of the month.

Kegs and Kickstands is an all-ages event – some riders don’t get to experience the ‘kegs’ portion, but this year the youngest participant was three years old.

Also in Kellogg was the 2023 North American Enduro Cup races at Silver Mountain. For the seventh consecutive year, the six-staged race made its way to the Silver Valley.

More than 300 racers competed at the event – which features 35-miles of available trails for racing.

Mitch Ropelato, racing for Cannondale, Forge and Bond, and Monster Energy took home first place in the pro men's division, while Jill Kintner, riding for Red Bull, Norco, and Shimano defended her 2022 title and took home the women’s pro division championship.

Silver Mountain marketing coordinator Gus Colburn also told the News-Press that a new trail, lovingly dubbed Carnage Asada, was opened for the first time and was included in the race circuit.

“Stage 6 was the ever-popular top-to-bottom route starting at the mountain house and ending up in Kellogg,” Colburn said. “Jake Keller recorded the fastest time on Stage 6 with a time of 15 minutes and 8 seconds.”

The North American Enduro Cup is a qualifier race in the Enduro World Series (EWS), and represents the ultimate combination of racing and adventure.

Taking place over eight rounds spanning from the high Andes to the Ligurian coastline, from the fern forests of New Zealand to the lush cedar and loam of British Columbia, the EWS represents mountain biking at its best and its most diverse.

Riders must accumulate points at the qualifying races like the one this past weekend to become eligible for the EWS.