What is the thinking behind creating The Gorge Games?
The Gorge Games were created because (at the time -1995) downtown merchants were complaining that business was down and windsurfing visitors were declining. At the time there was little or no marketing being done to attract the recreation based vacationer. The most successful marketing prior to ’95 had been the Gorge Pro-Am Windsurfing Competition. The event attracted windsurf athletes from around the world and with them came their media. The media wrote stories about this windy place called “The Gorge”. Through that event, the Gorge became synonymous with windsurfing. We first researched bringing the Gorge Pro-Am back to life when we realized that windsurfing is such a small sport to get much outside sponsorship and the problems of the Gorge Pro-Am had a lot to do bad weather and a lack of wind. The Port of Hood River was a huge supporter of this early event. Just then ESPN created the X-Games. Although the sports they featured seemed juvenile, the concept of bringing together other “
