Apparently there will be no large gathering of motorcyclists this August on farmland near Enterprise after all.

Joseph saloon owner Gary Bethscheider, whose proposal to site a new event, the Wallowa County Thunder Run, on property owned by Skyler Willis just outside of Enterprise, withdrew his application to the Wallowa County Planning Commission for a conditional use permit.

As proposed, the Thunder Run would have provided three nights of camping for around 2,000 visiting motorcyclists on a site with food and other vendors and live music.

The planning commission was scheduled to hold a hearing on the application last night (Tuesday, Jan. 28), but members of the public filing into the county courthouse meeting room in time for the 7 p.m. scheduled hearing were informed by Planning Director Harold Black that his department had received a letter from Bethscheider withdrawing the application late that afternoon.

The Willis property’s zoning is Exclusive Farm Use (EFU). Although parks and camping are listed among conditional uses for an EFU zone, a land use decision the Oregon Court of Appeals issued in December places stricter limits on agri-tourism-related activities allowed on Oregon farms.