C

The Off Highway Vehicle Park in Coalmont hosted its largest crowd yet on the first day of the new year. Though still not officially open, the OHV park allows outdoor adventurers the opportunity to explore the vast acreage and asks for a minimal donation to go toward improvements to the facilities.

“There were around 300 vehicles and over 600 people out here,” Roger Theurer, chairman of the OHV Park Board, said. “We’re still not technically open. We haven’t been advertising. We have been keeping up with our progress on our Facebook page. We were amazed.”

Word of mouth among off roaders has been the key to the popularity of the park. People travel from all over the southeast to ride the thousand plus acres of trails. While Theurer didn’t make an inventory of license tags this weekend, he did remark that there were around a half dozen tent campers, 243 trucks and trailers and six or so RVs despite water and electricity not available yet for RVs.

“This weekend was unusual; we had a lot of first timers at the park,” Theurer added.

Theurer said that the park is hoping to have a soft opening at the end of this month or early February, while the grand opening is scheduled for March 24.