Baker City business reviving motorcycle rally

Ian Crawford, Baker City Herald, Ore.
·2 min read

Jun. 22—A downtown Baker City business is reviving a major summer event that seemed destined to be canceled for the third straight year.

Shameless Tees, a screen-printing store at 1921 Main St., is coordinating what it calls the Resurrection Rally 2022.

The event, planned for July 8-10, the weekend after Independence Day, is intended to bring hordes of motorcycle riders back to Baker City.

The annual Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally, a tradition for almost two decades that attracted thousands of visitors to the city, was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

In February of this year, Mark Dukes, a partner in High Desert Harley-Davidson of Meridian, Idaho, the dealership that has organizes the rally for the past few years, said the business wouldn't be putting on the rally in 2022.

Dukes said in February that the issue this year isn't so much concerns about how the pandemic would progress, but a shortage of employees at the dealership, and an Oregon Department of Transportation project to build more than 300 wheelchair-accessible curb cuts in Baker City this summer, including on Main Street.

Dukes said his goal was to bring the rally back in 2023.

But Shameless Tees wasn't content to wait another year.

"Baker loves the rally," said Brandy Bruce, who works at the store. "So we're trying to bring it back."

Although the Resurrection Rally has been scheduled and a website created — thebcmr.com/ — organizers are still seeking permission from the city to close Main Street during the weekend, as has been done with past Hells Canyon rallies.

Bruce said organizers have talked with many downtown business owners, and had "an overwhelmingly positive response" to the rally plans.

"We're trying to get through to the rest but I think we have a majority," she said.

The website has information about camping options for riders on a ranch in Keating Valley, as well as registration packets.

The Ison House and the Corner Brick Grill are planning concerts during the rally, Bruce said.

More information is available by calling Shameless Tees at 541-523-1187. Participants can register, at Shameless Tees, 1921 Main St., or by calling or texting 541-921-9114.