The Cottonwood City Council discussed rebranding Thunder Valley Rally during its regular meeting on Tuesday, March 5, to reduce its focus on motorcycles and bikers.
The rally was founded by Cliff Castle Casino in 2000, and the city of Cottonwood took over as the primary promoter of the event in 2013. Since then, the city has not been able to recover its costs from the event consistently.
Community Services Director Jak Teel outlined three options for the program’s future for council discussion.
The first option staff proposed would involve retaining the event’s focus on motorcycles while adding daytime activities such as cornholing and expanding the motorcycle show to include muscle cars and hot rods. The Friday concert would attempt to attract a local crowd by engaging a lesser-known band tailored to the community’s interest, while the Saturday concert would feature a larger headlining band.
The second option staff proposed would be to transition the rally into an event headlined by a renowned national entertainer and phase out the emphasis on motorcycles. Teel suggested this would allow the city to focus on promoting drinks and food, similar to a fall festival or Oktoberfest.
The third option staff proposed would be to abolish the rally outright and replace it with a new fall event.
Teel said that staff recommended option two and would attempt to introduce more family-oriented activities this year as part of that process. He said that they would retain the name of the event at least for this year in spite of the changes.
Councilwoman Lisa DuVernay said she was in favor of a fall carnival-type event that would provide more opportunities for what she described as family-friendly activities and said that Cottonwood’s demographics had changed.
Councilman Michael Mathews agreed that it was time to rebrand the event.
Teel asked the council if the event should be one or two days long and suggested having different bands each day. He added that the city attempts to hire local bands and tries to work with the Mingus Union High School rock band to give those students an opportunity to play.
Councilman Derek Palosaari said that a two-day event would give people more time to spend money at local businesses.
“I’ve been riding in the event for 20-plus years and I would hate to see this go away,” Councilman Stephen DeWillis said.
While city staff plan to de-emphasize motorcycles, Teel said that they will allow motorcycles at the event as their riders are used to coming every year.
Mayor Tim Elinski suggested that the city not market the event as a motorcycle event, with the rest of the council in agreement, and said that they should prepare for this year to be a transition year.
The council agreed to direct staff to pursue planning for option two, for a two-day event.
