Can't even describe it other than complete mayhem! Left at 6:30 in the morning taking backroads, and got jammed in the worst backup I've ever seen. Took us over 1.5 hours t o move approx 2 miles. Traffic to the west was gridlocked for miles to the point where county sherriff, etc. were telling people to go home! Feel bad for all hose out of towners that got turned away. Not enough parking, horrible co-ordination, and awful traffic will lead to alot of peed off people! Haydayes will need to make some huge changes if they expect people to attend.
holy crap! Haydays Traffic
- Thread starter doospunk
- Start date
Firecatguy
New member
*** your home already???we sat in the parking lot and drank another case watching the line of cars waiting to leave.......
man what a good time tho eh Doospunk!!!!lenny at Line shack sure can pour a cold drink hahaha and thanks Scottking for the beer!!!
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X2 Scotti and Lenny. Was a good time once we got in!
jmvette427
Active member
never again unless you helicopter me in
7 hours round trip travel time, $80 fuel, $30 admission, 3hrs in stop and go traffic, to be told to park 3.5 miles from gate , walk to gate and thru show , shipping on mail order snowmobile stuff is now pricless!!!
7 hours round trip travel time, $80 fuel, $30 admission, 3hrs in stop and go traffic, to be told to park 3.5 miles from gate , walk to gate and thru show , shipping on mail order snowmobile stuff is now pricless!!!
huge cluster **** unbelievable ! I talked to guys that drove from Wyoming with a 6place full of parts and reserved spot papers turned back on Fri PM along with others.we left the house at 5am got with in 1.9 MI buy 6;15 did not get in to the parking lot till 10;15.talked to a farmer on the way in when I was sitting in fr of his driveway for 45min and he said the county told local residents they would be heavily fined if they allowed parking in the fields{what country do we live in}I would have allowed free parking if I got that letter F em.what were the snow barons doing for the last 5yr they have owned this land def not building a quality track def not haling in gravel for the main drives to dump over the sloppy clay.not planing for more than 1 entrance even though there was room on all sides of event for parking with minn work wow there is a concept enter from more than 1 street .alot of PO people a good bud was going to work in a pit crew for a well known race team did not get out of the house till late cops would not let him even get close to the event had his pit passes 3 day pass and parking sticker 3 mi is the closest he could get.but once in it was a good time just hope they get some class 5 laid down on main Aisles next yr.I got a 2010 klimF4 and a new gore tex cat jacket for 60 bucks and a liner for 20.I think the golden goose laid a huge rotten egg this yr that is going to negatively effect them for yrs to come
Firecatguy
New member
Did they ever get to the racing?????I think they ran a cpl races then shut it down!!!joke
we walked around with a member of snbarrons yesterday and he just shook his head and he had worked on the place all week!!!!I think the people in charge just dont and do not care about how big the event has come i believe there point was to downsize it!!!
I believe the only way they will remedy this is to let the locals set up parking in their fields...That would get people parked and in there faster I guess having two ladies taking your money and saying to park over there with no one showing you it turned into a mess and the parking lot was a mud hole.....friend said they had to get the farmer to rent a field down the road when the pk filled so fast!!!!!*** are they thinking???
we walked around with a member of snbarrons yesterday and he just shook his head and he had worked on the place all week!!!!I think the people in charge just dont and do not care about how big the event has come i believe there point was to downsize it!!!
I believe the only way they will remedy this is to let the locals set up parking in their fields...That would get people parked and in there faster I guess having two ladies taking your money and saying to park over there with no one showing you it turned into a mess and the parking lot was a mud hole.....friend said they had to get the farmer to rent a field down the road when the pk filled so fast!!!!!*** are they thinking???
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borderstaff
New member
FCG You both called out the mess well before the event happened AND summed it up great.
The parking was the biggest mess with the whole event. If they had 5-6 parking lots (fields) all open at 6am this wouldn't have been that bad at all. Then the backups would have been no problem as everyone could have been parked and off of the road. The Sno-Barons HAVE to update their website with SO much more info. For starters they should have shown alternate routes into the site. I couldn't even find anything on their site showing lots to park in - it might be there but their website alone is a disaster. I could go on and on - but I know a lot of others will over the next week.
The parking was the biggest mess with the whole event. If they had 5-6 parking lots (fields) all open at 6am this wouldn't have been that bad at all. Then the backups would have been no problem as everyone could have been parked and off of the road. The Sno-Barons HAVE to update their website with SO much more info. For starters they should have shown alternate routes into the site. I couldn't even find anything on their site showing lots to park in - it might be there but their website alone is a disaster. I could go on and on - but I know a lot of others will over the next week.
Firecatguy
New member
you got that right!!!!!the pk was a frken mud hole i felt bad for the peopel in cars!!!!!
I WILL SAY THIS AS I LOVE THIS EVENT AND DONT WANT IT TO TURN INTO A MPLS SNOW SHOW!!!!!!!i HAD THE TIME MY LIFE WHEN WE GOT IN GREAT PEOPLE, GREAT VENDORS AND SLEDS!! GOOD FRIENDS PLUS BEER=====GOOD TIMES FOR SURE..........
DO SOMETHING ABOUT PARKING PLEASE
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borderstaff
New member
I just watched that clip. What Eric Perkins (the anchor) doesn't understand is that the vast majority of the people don't go to watch the racing. They go to shop in the swap (which is what makes Haydays what it is...bringing that many people together to sell their crap all in one place), see the new sleds, visit with the vendors and talk to them about their gear and equipment...oh, and to have beer or two in the company of ten's of thousands of other fans of the sport.
That is what Haydays is really about!
I was there Saturday from 8am (it would have been 6:30 but getting parked was a hassle as you all know by now) until 8 pm. I could hear the races every now and then but I never saw any of the racing. I went with one other buddy and we bought an Ultra motor (for someone who didn't come and still rides in the "dark ages"), 2 helmets and goggles, I got a new HMK Voyager jacket, 2 HMK backpack,shovel,probe setups (and they through in 2 new hats as a gift). I got 2 new 2010 cat tailflaps for my 2 M8 bumper conversion projects, and my buddy bought some HMK gloves.
I was glad we parked close as we made a couple of trips back to the truck to unload stuff and enjoy the beer/food we had along while we took a break.
jmvette427
Active member
haydays sales
ok my legs are sore from the hiking in and out but i am wondering if the sales suffered because of the long walk back by the unfortunates like us who had to be parked 3.5 miles away, my buddy wanted to buy some runner kits for the floor of his trailer , but damn we werent gonna carry two boxes of runners 3.5 miles to our car, also on our walk in, we saw many swap meet sellers and vendors, stuck in traffic so i wonder if sales were down? another observation? we did not see as many for hire, quads with trailers as in years past? also 2 or 3 more entrances ? another observation, private pay to park areas leading to the site would eliminate some of the congestion, what about 2 lanes in and one out during the mornings ala nascar ? i know you will say the roads are narrow but we saw plenty of jackasses who decided that they would drive their vehicles in the opposite lanes on 14 leading in and traffic dealt with it , just my $.02
ok my legs are sore from the hiking in and out but i am wondering if the sales suffered because of the long walk back by the unfortunates like us who had to be parked 3.5 miles away, my buddy wanted to buy some runner kits for the floor of his trailer , but damn we werent gonna carry two boxes of runners 3.5 miles to our car, also on our walk in, we saw many swap meet sellers and vendors, stuck in traffic so i wonder if sales were down? another observation? we did not see as many for hire, quads with trailers as in years past? also 2 or 3 more entrances ? another observation, private pay to park areas leading to the site would eliminate some of the congestion, what about 2 lanes in and one out during the mornings ala nascar ? i know you will say the roads are narrow but we saw plenty of jackasses who decided that they would drive their vehicles in the opposite lanes on 14 leading in and traffic dealt with it , just my $.02
t660redrocket
New member
Minnesota State Fairgrounds would be perfect. Tons of parking, tons of room. Awesome grandstand for races and demos and etc. There are amby events held there every year that are similar. Back to the 50's, state fair, and other expo type stuff. We actually got there really fast. Our secret.......Droid GPS and 12 miles of gravel roads. Got there in 20 minutes once we got off of I-35 
I thought Hay Days was great once we got there. It is fricken HUGE!!!! I'll need 2 days to see it all next year. Planning must get better!!!!!
I bet the first town board and county commissioor meetings will be interesting. The neighbors of the Sno-Barrons were pizzzzzzzzed!
I thought Hay Days was great once we got there. It is fricken HUGE!!!! I'll need 2 days to see it all next year. Planning must get better!!!!!I bet the first town board and county commissioor meetings will be interesting. The neighbors of the Sno-Barrons were pizzzzzzzzed!
Parking was a BIG issue! I left St. Paul at 6:00 yesterday (Sat) and got in the gates at about 8:45. The last 5 miles took over 2 hours but I didn't have to walk far once I parked. Also glad that I had my 4WD because the parking lot was muddy. Also not happy about having to pay $5 to park. This slowed things down since each vehicle had to stop and pay. They should have had a lot more entrance points vs. the 2-3 that I saw. It was one huge bottleneck!