Wednesday, August 25, 1999
Gravelrama ready to roll
Thursday parade kicks off event
BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CLEVES — Businesses along Miami Avenue have begun to decorate, and on Tuesday a portable sign went up in front of the local Kroger welcoming Gravelrama and the thousands of spectators and participants it attracts each year.
“People know Cleves because of Gravelrama,” said Linda Bolton, the village clerk-treasurer. “You tell people you're from Cleves and they've heard of Gravelrama.”
The 29th annual Gravelrama competition, event and spectacle all rolled into one long weekend gets under way Thursday in this community of 2,300.
A parade down Miami Avenue, past storefronts and homes decorated for the occasion, will kick off the weekend at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Gravelrama is billed as the largest four-wheel competition in the country. It is sponsored by I.O.K. Four Wheelers Inc., an organization of four-wheel vehicle enthusiasts that owns the 66-acre site near the village where the events are held.
The site was once a gravel pit but has been reconfigured for four-wheel races up a hill made of pea gravel three stories high, through an obstacle course, up a drag hill and across a flat-drag course.
The weekend attracts about 300 participants from across the country, as well as 20,000 to 30,000 spectators who cram into the 66-acre site and invariably spill onto the streets of nearby Cleves, on the western edge of Hamilton County along the Ohio River.
“Parade day is pretty good,” said Dean Becker, who along with his brother, Michael, owns Ann's Tavern on Miami Avenue. “It's something to do in a small town. It's good for the town. It's good for business.”
Tommy Thompson, who owns Tommy's Drive Thru & Deli in Cleves, said Gravelrama is a great end-of-summer event.
“We get a lot of business,” said Mr. Thompson, who says he stays so busy during the weekend that he cannot attend the event himself.
“It's nonstop.”
He said the event lost some of its luster in the mid-1980s but seems to have roared back with renewed interest in racing. “NASCAR is a big deal, and everything else.”
Participants travel from more than 30 states. Many plan vacations around the weekend and camp at sites at the gravel pit. The campsites opened Sunday.
“A month ago I start getting calls,” Ms. Bolton said.
Vikki Jones, general manager of a Skyline Chili in Sharonville, hopes to introduce — or reintroduce — out-of-towners to Cincinnati-style chili this weekend.
Carolyn Gillespie Huff, who runs Carolyn's Cut & Curl, says even her hair salon benefits from the thousands who make their way to Cleves.
“If it's hot,” she said, “there are people down there who all of a sudden may want their hair cut.”
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