BEMIDJI 鈥� Bike Bemidji's 11th annual Loop the Lake Festival, originally set for Saturday, June 21, was canceled early Saturday morning due to damage along the route from overnight storms.
The festival, which was scheduled to start at 7:30 a.m. at South Shore Beach, was called off around 6 a.m. by event director Muriel Gilman. She said it was a hard decision to cancel the festival.
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鈥�(Bemidji Police) Chief Mike Mastin called around 5:30 a.m. and said 鈥榠t鈥檚 really bad,鈥欌�� she recalled. 鈥淭here was no question; you couldn鈥檛 do this.鈥�
Loop the Lake typically draws hundreds of cyclists to the Bemidji area each year for a 17-mile bike ride around the lake. The last time organizers canceled the event was in 2020 due to COVID, and the 2021 event was held virtually over a five-day period before the festival was brought back to its full capacity in 2022.
Gilman said the festival can鈥檛 be delayed until later this year. The next one will be in 2026.
On Saturday, Gilman drove all around Lake Bemidji. She took down signs directing cyclists along the 17-mile route and surveyed the damage, realizing that the festival was impossible to put on.
鈥淓very crossing that I went to, there were trees down,鈥� Gilman said. 鈥淭hey really couldn鈥檛 ride anywhere.鈥�
Event organizers had food and water on ice for the cyclists, but it was instead donated to Lake Bemidji State Park and the American Red Cross.
鈥淲e had (water), cookies, a gazillion hot dogs, gallons of chocolate milk and bananas up the wazoo,鈥� Gilman said. 鈥�(Lake Bemidji State Park) said, 鈥榃ell, would you be able to spare any food? We have campers who are stranded and can't get to food.鈥� So we left some food for campers who were in distress, and then the rest of it went to the Red Cross.鈥�
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Gilman, who has lived in Bemidji for 50 years, has never seen a storm of this magnitude in Bemidji.
鈥淚 think this is the worst, because it鈥檚 such a huge area,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 have never seen anything like this.鈥�
About half of the Loop the Lake participants are from outside Bemidji, such as Leroy and Lavonne Kostrzewski from Detroit Lakes. They were going to participate in Loop the Lake for the first time Saturday, but realized that wasn鈥檛 happening when they looked outside their hotel.
鈥淲e came out and got up this morning to see trees all over that are down,鈥� Lavonne said early Saturday morning.
Despite the storm, the Kostrzewskis want to come back for Loop the Lake in the future.
鈥淚t's a beautiful ride. It sounded like so much fun,鈥� Lavonne said. 鈥淏ut we will try again.鈥�
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