Ojibwe Forests Rally (OFR) is scheduled for August 25th-26th! OFR is a performance stage rally that will be headquartered out of the Northern Lights Casino in Walker, MN this year. Here is the official site: http://ojibweforestsrally.com/ I'm planning on heading up Wednesday or Thursday to help with bannering. Post up here if you plan to head up this year. It would be fun to get a group together to caravan up together. No obligation to volunteer, we can split the groups once we get there. It's a bit early and there isn't a lot of official information available yet. I will keep this thread updated. Why am I starting this thread in April? Because it's never too early to start collecting half-assed hand raisers and ensure maximum disappointment at actual turnout... If you've never experienced a pro stage rally in person before, I can't recommend the experience highly enough! OFR is a national level event with the highest caliber drivers in the country pushing full tilt through some of the best gravel roads in the region. American Rally Association (ARA) is the sanctioning body this year. As an ARA event, you can expect to see Subaru Rally Team USA fielding David Higgins/Craig Drew, and Travis Pastrana/Christian Edstrom (assuming Chrissie doesn't return). The rally experience puts you up close and personal (literally) with the cars, drivers, co-drivers and techs. Spectator points are defined throughout the event at key points such as the redbull jump... but that's not the best seat in the house. Volunteering is where it's at! Just how close can you get as a volunteer? About this close (use chrome with hardware acceleration enabled): As a volunteer you may find yourself crawling over/around/in the cars themselves, stashed in the most technical areas of the course or working directly with the drivers and co-drivers on-stage right through their window. Here is a good thread that outlines some of the volunteer opportunities: https://mnsubaru.com/threads/rally-volunteering-the-best-seat-in-the-house.11679/ Also: https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/ojibweforestsrally Edit(s): - Received updated info about HQ being in Walker instead of Detroit Lakes this year.
I agree wholeheartedly, this event is a hell of a time either as a spectator or a volunteer. I've made it up there for the last five years, and always had a good time. There is plenty of nearby camping or lodging near DL, and the street special stage though downtown is neat to see. David Higgins, not his brother Mark, drives for SRTUSA...
lol, I don't know why I have such a problem with that! I kept calling him Mark at the last two events.
I'm from Longville, which is about 20 min away. Def going to try to make it. My father is a sheriff in Walker and is a good chance he will be working security.
I imagine I'll be there....last year was the first in 8 or so that I missed. Detroit Lakes was a good place for headquarters, but the drive out to the stages was brutal. So Walker will be so much more convenient. They used Northern Lakes for the headquarter for Headwaters last year, and it seemed to work very well! For Headwaters last year, we stayed at the Akeley city park campground. It was cheap, nice, close to the stages (walking distance from the usual Ojibwe Service location), and right on the lake! Here's the view from our site...
What time do they start on Friday? I'll be taking off two work days that next weekend along with a full week at the beginning of the month and I'm already going to be close on vacation time.
No posted schedule yet. It can be all over the board. It's usually at least late morning if not early afternoon so they have time to get stages setup and staffed. I'll update the OP as soon as it's available.
I think I will be volunteer this year! Been thinking about it for the last couple years but need to pull the trigger on it this year!
FTFY. Post up any questions you have! We have competitors and organizers on the board. If there is anything you're curious/worried about or need help with, you should be able to get an answer here or at least pointed the right direction. I've done bannering/de-bannering, course marshaling, timing controls and tech inspection so I can speak directly to those.
I went last year, and I'm planning to go this year as well, but we didnt have a map so we made it to a whopping 3 stages. Does anybody have a stage map for this year?
