Larry Berrio brings spotlight to snowmobiling in Sudbury

Larry Berrio has been an avid snowmobiler for as long as he can remember. He can remember times in the past when Sudbury was a mecca of snowmobiling activity.

However, in the past decade, the activity has died down considerably. So the country music recording artist came up with an idea to revive the enthusiasm in the winter sport.

The Big Deal is a snowmobile poker run set to take place Feb. 19, 2011 on the paths of the Sudbury Trail Plan, ending with a dinner and concert by Berrio at the Garson Arena.

“Snowmobiling is a sport that's very popular in northern Ontario,” he said. “(The Big Deal) is going to be a big thing for Sudbury, let alone northern Ontario.”

The event is designed to accommodate as many as 350 snowmobilers and will include interactive games, special attraction displays from EMS, police and the military, as well as snowmobile and ATV rides for the public. The funds raised through the event will go toward the Sudbury Trail Plan, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Lion's Club.

Richard Bleskie, vice-president of operations with the Sudbury Trail Plan, said the Big Deal is “probably the biggest event we've had in Sudbury for snowmobiling since the mid 90s.”

“Sudbury's been missing the big events,” he continued. “We used to have an event back in the early 90s called the Indy 500, which used to attract 7,000 snowmobilers. We dropped that event for a number of reasons. This is kind of going to take the place of that.”

He said the Sudbury Trail Plan has been in existence for the past 15 to 20 years and has leveled out to roughly 4,000 members over the past few years.

“It's starting to come back again,” he said. “It's also grown in popularity because of the trail system itself. We've been on a rough trail system with real narrow trails, to virtually highways out there.

“You can basically get on a snowmobile in Sudbury and go anywhere in Ontario.”
Snowmobiler Television and SnowGoer Magazine have taken notice of the event, and will be on scene Feb. 19, airing the event across Canada.

“That's a big opportunity for us to show people that snowmobiling is alive,” Berrio said. “Let's show them what Sudbury is all about. We have some incredible trails here.”

For more information about the event, contact Norm Hein, trails and poker run co-ordination, at 705-693-7669 or [email protected].