By Carol Ladwig

Staff Reporter

Mountains, check. Rivers, check. Quaint downtown, check. Community events, double-check.

The next 12 months in North Bend are going to be filled with recreation opportunities, family activities, a famous film festival, and as Geoff Doy puts it, “several thousand people doing foolish things on bicycles,” all intended to attract locals and tourists to downtown North Bend.

Doy, a member of the two year-old North Bend marketing team, couldn’t be more excited about it. He and the other team members, marketing manager at the Summit Guy Lawrence, and owner of Pro Guiding Service Martin Volken, recently announced their plans for the coming year in North Bend. Activities are planned for six of the next 12 months, starting with last weekend’s Pineapple Express race held at Mountain Meadows Farm, and ending next September with that foolishness on bicycles that Doy mentioned.

In between, there’s the weeklong North Bend Mountain Film Festival capped by two days of the Banff Film Festival, and a month of holiday festivities, both starting Sunday, Dec. 5, some big changes to the summer farmers market, an extreme-sports-style Warrior Dash (www.warriordash.com), and the traditional downtown block party and Festival at Mount Si.

“All of these things we want to make annual events,” Doy said, adding “It’s about raising awareness of our downtown.” Take the farmers market, usually located next to the Si View Community Center.

“It’s fine by the community center, but the local businesses don’t benefit from it there,” Doy said. The planned move of the market to the downtown area will bring more shoppers to the businesses, benefitting the entire city.

“If we can make our downtown businesses more and more successful, we can attract other businesses who might want to open here, and other people who’ll want to live here,” Doy said.

Supporting businesses is a major goal of the marketing group, but they also want to support the residents with community-building events like the holiday tree lighting ceremony. On Dec. 5 and continuing for the three Thursdays after (Dec. 9, 16, and 23), from 6 to 9 p.m., the block of North Bend Way between Bendigo and Main Streets will be closed to traffic and devoted to holiday events such as caroling, wagon rides, roasting chestnuts, choir performances, and the lighting of a large noble fir at the corner of Bendigo and North Bend Way.

“We’re doing this on zero budget,” said Doy, who is the chairperson for this event. John Day Homes is donating the tree, building the stand, and recycling it after the holidays, Ace Hardware has donated the lights, Birches Habitat has donated the decorations, and everyone involved is volunteering their time.

“When you get this city together, people really pitch in,” Doy marveled. “This city is just so cool!”

The surrounding businesses will have a chance to participate, by “adopting” and decorating the street trees. Finally, Doy has arranged for the proceeds from each of the four nights of events will go to benefit a different charity in the community.

The farmers market will take over the same location each Thursday in the summer, again bringing activity and music to the downtown businesses, but the real tourism starts in June, when North Bend hosts its first mud-crawling, fire-leaping obstacle-course/race called the Warrior Dash.

The Warrior Dash organization hosted 10 events this year, and is anticipating putting on more than 30 events in 2011. The North Bend marketing group brought them in to manage the entire event.

“We’re just the grease on the wheels, really,” Doy said.

Typically, the Warrior Dash attracts between 14,000 and 16,000 participants.

“They reckon that for every entrant, about $28 is spent in the area businesses,” Doy said. Assuming 16,000 racers, “that’s nearly half a million dollars.”

June 25 is the date set for the Warrior Dash, and the next extreme event, put on by Tri-Freaks (www.trifreaks.com) is on for Sept. 10 and 11. The name is still not settled—maybe the North Bend Challenge, maybe North Bend Multicross—but “they’re really keen to get going,” Doy said.

According to the website, the event will combine cycle-cross and triathalon-style events, and probably more than one foolish bike stunt.

Well before the event starts, you’ll be able to read about it in-depth on the city’s website, which is being revamped right now to highlight the best of North Bend.

“There are some things on the city website that have to be there,” Doy said, like permit information, city council schedules and so on, but the new website will be much more dynamic and interactive. Users will be able to navigate to trail maps targeted toward their specific activity and experience level, from a gentle stroll on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail to a climb up Mailbox Peak.

“We want to make it not your old city web site,” Doy said. “It’ll be comprehensive.”

Doy was the only group member contacted for an interview, but he had high praise for his fellow members, as well as North Bend City Clerk Cheryl Proffitt-Schmidt, and Community and Economic Development Director Gina Estep, who have contributed greatly to the effort to brand the city as a destination.