The Tryon Riding and Hunt Club canceled the 2025 Blockhouse Steeplechase, an event that's been a part of the Town of Tryon since 1947.

Several locals News 13 spoke with said they were sad but not surprised to see the event be canceled.

Kevin Parker has lived and worked in Tryon for the last 10 years and remembered the Blockhouse being a blast the first time he and his wife went.

"Blockhouse was like an institution. I mean, it's an annual thing. It was like a put-on-you-calendar, plan-around type thing," he said.

Parker said that they used to park on top of the hills and were able to see all of the activities happening on the infield.

"The tailgate contest, the best hat contest," he recalled.

He said that it was fun for people who weren't even horse fans and a fun way for the community to come together.

Another resident, Katie Doyen, has lived and worked in Tryon for over 20 years and said the Blockhouse Steeplechase used to be an event she never missed.

You just paid for the truckload of people to go, and we had tailgates," she said. "Everyone did different foods. It was so much fun."

However, Doyen and Parker said things changed when the event changed locations. The races were previously held at Foothills Equestrian Nature Center. In 2017, the club partnered with Tryon International Equestrian Center, which started hosting the event at the Green Creek Race Course.

"It was all spread out. It wasn't as friendly as it used to be," Doyen said.

She said that she felt that the event turned into something else.

"It was more for the elite people to do it rather than us locals," she said.

Parker said that he felt like the event stopped having the same feeling that it did in the past.

"It wasn't the type of gathering it had been. It wasn't as broadly community attractive," he said.

Doyen said that she wasn't surprised that the event is unable to keep going.

"The prices they were charging for the entry fee and all that stuff, and I heard you couldn't bring your own food, had to buy the food there," she said. "The best part of it was bringing out all the foods and sharing it."

The club said it plans to implement a thorough analysis to evaluate possibly bringing the event back at a future date.

Both Doyen and Parker said that they would love to see the Steeplechase come back, but only if it was able to go back to the way it used to be.

 

STORY & PHOTO COURTESY OF A BC 13 WLOSResidents reminisce about Blockhouse Steeplechase, but aren't surprised by cancelation (wlos.com)