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or the 4th time in a decade, Oriental hosted Cycle NC’s Springtime Coastal Ride. In this, the 2017 event, some 1400 cyclists came to town, April 27-30 and used it as base camp for rides – some as long as 100 miles a day – around Pamlico County. It appeared to run smoothly considering the visitors more than doubled the town’s population. Hotel and inn rooms were full, and most visitors camped in tents on lawns near the river. Those who stayed in private homes helped raise funds for Hope Clinic.

Some letters of appreciation.

Hope Clinic would like to extend a HUGE thank you to Tom Cochran for coordinating this year’s Cycle NC lodging program! Thanks to Tom’s hard, hard work, about $13,000 was raised to help Hope Clinic. In people terms, this provides full care for about 22 people for an ENTIRE YEAR. Tom Cochran was detailed, diligent, and patient – which might be the perfect combo for this job.

Hope Clinic also sends out a special thank you to all of our host homes, who provided room and board to our Cycle NC guests this year. You’ll be receiving a tax donation letter in the next few days, detailing your in-kind contribution, which made raising $13,000 possible. You guys are all heroes – quite literally.

Thank you on behalf of our Hope Clinic patients, volunteers, board members, and staff!. You rock!

Sheri Rettew, Executive Director Hope Clinic 5/5/17

I’d like to personally thank everyone who volunteered to help with the CycleNC event this past weekend, most especially those who volunteered to serve as information booth volunteers and answered every question you could possibly imagine, as well as direct our guests to their desired destinations.

Thanks also to the residents, who graciously welcomed cyclists into their homes and donated rental fees to the Hope Clinic. Also, thanks to residents who volunteered their properties for campers and RVs, and finally to those residents who lived along the headquarters routes for their patience with the traffic and all that comes with it, that doubling our population brings with it.

A deserving thanks to the SEPVFD, who lended us fire hose to trek the shower truck lines two streets over to the nearest (not leaking) fire hydrant.

My most sincere appreciation to my staff, who worked tirelessly on water issues, trash, spraying for mosquitos, hauling everything everywhere, and working extremely long days in our first really warm weekend.

We could not have made this happen without all of those participants.

Thanks to all who helped and participated, and I sincerely hope that the merchants in town did a fabulous business during the event. We will be holding a meeting to take comments from businesses and residents alike to see what worked (and what didn’t) and what we could do better and also note what needs to be done differently prior to the next event, if they and we choose to bring it back to Oriental. We’ll make sure everyone has enough notice to make their voices heard.

Most sincerely,

Diane H. Miller, MPA Town Manager Town of Oriental 5/1/17