Springtime in Wichita Mountains
Springtime in the Wichita Mountains is best characterized as abundant with wildflowers and cool temperatures although we have seen other extremes since the event began in 1989, such as hot & dry winds, rain & thunder, and even zero-visibility fog followed by cold rain. This year Mother Nature cooperated nicely as she has most years.
This event takes place “Always on Saturday of Memorial Day
weekend.”
The flag is hoisted high above Meers Volunteer Fire Station,
our emcee asks everyone to remember the meaning of Memorial Day for the brave
who sacrifice by defending our nation, the crowd quiets to say the Pledge of
Allegiance followed by a singer doing our National Anthem with cheers from the
participants. A raffle drawing is featured each year.
This
annual event is remembered for the good vibes and happy comments from
participants not only in person at our fire station but also on Facebook and
emails received after the event.
“Excellent job by all the volunteers today. The
ride went very smooth!”
“It’s an awesome ride for a great
cause, so I hope you can spread the word about the ride!”
“This is our favorite ride!”
Our Event
This large-scale event involves over 100
volunteers, some of them laboring for months, weeks and days in advance of and
after the big day. Additionally, we enjoy the financial sponsorship of local
businesses along with key on-the-ground support from the Lawton-Fort Sill
Amateur Radio Club, the Cache Masons, Comanche County Sheriff’s Department and
Lawton Communications.
Tour de
Meers draws 500-700 registrations on average. Of those, about 40% ride on the
36-mile (Red) route, 20% on the 60-mile (Purple) route, 15% on the 22-mile
(Yellow) route, 1% on the 10-mile (Blue) route, and 25% on the 36-mile and
60-mile gravel routes.
The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge
(WMWR)
welcomes the crowd as our co-host. This 60,000-acre wildlife preserve of mixed
grass prairie is the crown jewel of all 568 federal refuges under the U.S. Fish
& Wildlife Service. This refuge was established in 1901. Meers VFD is a
mutual aid partner with WMWR Fire crews, so we want our riders to recognize
that they should act as guests observing safety on the refuge roads, cattle
guards and vehicular traffic along with free-roaming bison and longhorn cattle.
Our Routes
The gravel routes had been in our planning for
a few years while determining the locations and partnering with Basecamp
Adventure Outfitters of neighboring Medicine Park. Adding gravel routes in
2023 drew accolades, gratitude and
“about time” comments from the 100 riders on those routes.
Safety
The Tour de Meers organizers strongly encourage
participants to understand we all must respect wild animals and recognize not
only that they have the right of way, but also that they are dangerous when
provoked. Put another way, we enjoy a great working relationship with the
Refuge staff who are our hosts and ask that we abide by their regulations.
Our Extras
Also new in 2023 was that we provided free hot
dogs and refreshments to anyone lingering after completing the ride. We
announced this offering during the opening ceremony to cheers from the crowd.
A
portion of the event’s revenues goes to providing fully stocked rest stops with
portable toilets, directional signs and arrows, safety vests and hand-held
signs for our volunteers stationed at cattle guards and intersections, and the
significant expense of providing event t-shirts in all sizes. We offer a Tour
de Meers merchandise booth where participants can purchase a variety of event
t-shirts, light & heavy hoodies, ball caps and mugs. The booth is open at
6:00am and remains open until the last riders return in the early afternoon.
