Southern Illinois Fat Tire Festival

Southern Illinois Fat Tire Festival (FTF) happening again for the 20th year in a row, one of the best MTB events in the entire MidWest! This year’s event goes down October 18-20, 2024, at the one and only Camp Ondessonk located in Ozark, Illinois right in the middle of the beautiful Shawnee National Forest. We have miles and miles of great riding for all levels of riders from mellow flow to rugged all mountain boulder strewn rowdiness. The Midwest’s all inclusive mountain bike weekend with tons of fun riding; both professionally guided and self-led, amazing food and drink, awesome tree-house accommodations, and tons of outdoor adventures Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

FTF has something for everyone, from those wanting to ride every minute of the day to those tagging along to enjoy some time in the great outdoors.  The list of fun evolves each year and is part of what makes Fat Tire Fest such a fun event for EVERYONE.  The year the list includes 30+ miles of onsite trails to explore at any time, including the 10+ miles of fun and flowy trails handcrafted specifically for MTB riding that weave thru the 800+ acres of CampO property.

The Riding
There will be professionally guided rides available Friday and Saturday with options for everyone, from family paced mellow low mileage / low speed jaunts to full-on-worm-burning epic rides.  All rides leave from the vendor expo area and there will be multiple ride options rolling throughout both Friday and Saturday.  When you check in to the event you will receive the hard copy schedule including all the rides and all other activities for the weekend.  You will also receive a hard copy of the maps of the trail network and GPS files will be available for download prior to the event and onsite.

The Trails
With over 35 miles of trails at the FTF location, the riding is amazing. CampO’s buffed in and rocking 10 miles of trail is all within their 800+ acres.  These are professionally crafted MTB trails that provide a fun network with great flow and fun for everyone.  Then we have the expansive Forest Service trails with 25+ miles of everything from super rowdy and rugged to wide open double track, original Shawnee goodness.  We also have full use of the Glendale trail network, the original home of Fat Tire Fest!   Glendale is about 10 miles, as the crow flies, from the expo area, about a 25 minute drive, and some of the best old school trails in the Shawnee!  This ~15 mile trail network includes slickrock, bluffs, tech and flow.

Bike Demos
We will have demo’s from Santa Cruz, Cannondale and Cervelo on site for you to throw a leg over and take out into the dirt, all will be available for real demo rides on our CampO trail network!  The only limit to the demo fun will be time; bring them back within one hour so others have a chance to try them out too, but feel free to take them out multiple times and try multiple bikes!

Rail Trail Ride
For the mellowest riders we go offsite on Saturday to the very scenic Tunnel Hill Trail, a short 10 minute drive away, for a fun ride on southern Illinois’ only rail trail.  Experience riding through a tunnel over 500’ long, riding across multiple trestles, the largest of which is 400’ long and over 100’ high and enjoy the fun of a meandering ride on the relatively flat trail. This ride is an out and back so you can go as long or as short as you want.

The Races

Finally on the riding front, for those looking for something a little competitive and a LOT fun, a couple races for everyone.

First up an all new for this year Kids race for the riders with us under the age of 12, super short course fun with lots of hooting and hollering!  Next up is the all original CampO Off-Road Crit, join in on the fun; a one-mile course combining a bit of everything from gravel to stair drops to smooth singletrack.  We race for 20 minutes +1 lap and the prizes are huge, the biggest of which are the bragging rights which are yours to flex all weekend long.  Podium ceremonies happen before dinner on Saturday evening.

The second race of the weekend, the O-Face Bracket Race, happens Sunday at 10A.  We will be racing one lap on the CampO trails, and to level up the entire field, we will score this one on the accuracy of your predicted finish time.  As you sign up for the race you will receive your bib number and you will predict your finishing time.  Of course, no electronics will be allowed and cheating will be punished with the harshest of consequences.  The podium ceremony for this one will happen during the final lunch at the new dining hall.

Other FUN!
With our move to CampO 11 years ago FTF grew to way more than just one of the region’s best MTB events into a full-on outdoor adventure weekend with tons of fun for the riders and non-riders alike.

The Hunt
We had an amazingly popular, fan favorite addition developed from the challenges of putting on FTF in 2020. The Hunt, is an intense scavenger hunt driven from an obscure sheet of clues that will have you exploring all throughout CampO’s 800 acres to find the answers and win.  Challenges are presented in the form of riddles and puzzles and the more challenging they are the more points you win.   Put the highest score on the board and take home big prizes!  The year the Hunt ends Saturday at 5P and winners, will be announced and prizes awarded at Sunday’s lunch.

Fat Tire Challenge Friday Night
The Fat Tire Challenge will go down on Friday night, and always includes the world famous “Huffy Toss”, the “Little Kids Bike Dual Slalom”, the CampO tug of war to lead it all off and who knows what else we might cook up. We will have a huge campfire going all night long to keep you nice and warm while you wait for your turn at the craziness.

The 20th FTF Anniversary Disco Ball
Saturday night after everything else is done and dinner is finished, we will turn up the retro DJ, light up the disco light and rock it out at the first ever FTF Disco Ball, a celebration of 20 years of Fat Tire Fest.  We will have dancing, drinks, and fun for everyone with camp fires in the expo area and the dancing in the old dining hall. Bring your best disco outfit this year and come enjoy the ball.

Scary Movie Night in the Woods
Get the $*** scared out of you as you watch a super sketchy scary movie at one of the spookiest locations on Camp property. Like for real, don’t come if you have any cardiac or anxiety issues, you will be scared, a LOT.  Set the Terror Level to CODE BROWN and bring a change of pants.

Camp Fires, Smore and More
Both Friday and Saturday night we have nice campfires by the expo area, our sponsors make sure to keep the drinks flowing till late into the evening and we have smore fixings to wash all those drinks down.  So even if scary movies and dancing’s not your thing, you are guaranteed to have a phenomenal time enjoying the great outdoors with a new friends and old, reminiscing on a day of great riding and fun in the woods.

Register here