Trip Reports

DuneFest 2013

Posted on August 7, 2013

Dana Creech airing out his RZR XP at DuneFest

By Jon Crowley

This was my fourth year attending DuneFest and it was better than ever. More vendors and it was well organized. Plus the weather was incredible for four out of five days! DuneFest is held in the Winchester Bay Dunes which are part of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. DuneFest is organized by the Reedsport/Winchester Bay Chamber of Commerce and the Sand Camping/Staging facilities which are on National Forest Lands is authorized by a special use permit from the Siuslaw National Forest. The entire dunes at Winchester Bay are set aside for DuneFest from Wednesday to Sunday. To get into the dunes and the DuneFest event, you need an arm band.

I stayed at the Winchester Bay Inn and staged my trailer behind the main stage. This worked well for me because I locked my UTVs up in the enclosed trailer at night and drove my truck over the the motel. The Winchester Bay Inn is right near Salmon Harbor. It is convenient, reasonably priced and clean.

I brought two vehicles to DuneFest. Well, truthfully, I brought my Wildcat and Fullerton Sand Sports hauled up my newly completed Jagged X RZR XP for me.

Arctic Cat Wildcat Buildup

Turbo charged Arctic Cat Wildcat

Polaris RZR XP H.O. Jagged X Edition Buildup

Long travel, big bore turbo charged Jagged X RZR XP

Muzzys Performance Big Bore RZR XP Race Car

Polaris RZR XP 1000

Polaris RZR XP 1000

Polaris RZR XP 1000 in the Last Man Standing race

Polaris unveiled the RZR XP 1000 on Monday at their dealer show and had 10 units at the Winchester Bay dunes on Tuesday. They ran demo rides that were over 10 minutes through the dunes and then gave one to DuneFest to auction off for charity on Friday night.

I had the opportunity to be a passenger and driver in the new XP 1000 and I am thoroughly impressed with this vehicle. Read more: