Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch Will Host Events
Six a year including a music festival?
The quest for surf park supremacy is not going to come on like a hurricane. It’s more like a slow drip. Technology, investors, permits, legal nonsense, there’s no shortage of hurdles to overcome. One person that’s pretty good at clearing hurdles, just not at the moment, is Kelly Slater. And while the debut of the Surf Ranch stole our collective imagination some time ago, the elephant in the room has been, what next?
How does six events in sunny Lemoore sound? Based on paperwork filed and local reporting, the Slater camp has begun the application process to secure a permit to run events at their private Valhalla.
The permit will allow “up to six events per calendar year, including recreational and competitive surfing events, and ancillary music performances during a two-to-four day period,” reads the application. We reported on this possibility back in April, ‘cept our carrier pigeons thought it may be slotted for this month…but that, apparently, isn’t the case.
That sounds a whole lot like a CT contest with The Surfers laying down the background tunes. Or maybe Jimmy Buffet, he’s on the WSL board after all. Probably Jimmy Buffet.
According to the permit app, the ranch is said to be staffed by 50 lucky individuals. Maybe Kelly will run another Wonka-inspired contest to dole out such prized career positions. And on the events side, they’re asking for the ability to support a crowd of over 8,000 people. Previously the biggest event in the area is the Clovis Rodeo, which just enjoyed its 102nd anniversary. The Surf Ranch appears to have plans to dramatically ramp up their venue with expanded infrastructure.
It’s also worth noting, that one of the main points made in the WSL’s press statement announcing the hire of new CEO Sophie Goldschmidt was to further the development of the Slater Surf Ranch franchise. News of the permit application is probably not a coincidence.
The median home price in beautiful Lemoore is a steal at $242,000. This could be your chance to get in on the ground floor of faux oceanfront property.
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