SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – BlueZone Sports gave $10,000 to four Tahoe nonprofits over Labor Day weekend, $2,500 to each. The money came off the floor of the shop’s biggest sale of the year. Everyone who shopped that weekend had a hand in it. Five seasons in, the total has passed $50,000.
BlueZone Sports has outfitted South Lake Tahoe for nearly a decade. The Labor Day sale pulls product from all five locations and opens a day early so locals get first pick before the weekend crowds arrive. It has grown into a neighborhood event. This year, local food trucks served, Tahoe Pops handed out treats, and Tahoe AleWorx donated beer.
The four recipients work across trails, snow, youth development and the shoreline. TAMBA, the Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association, builds and maintains trails across the Tahoe Basin with the U.S. Forest Service. The Kirkwood Ski Education Foundation runs alpine ski racing and athlete development at Kirkwood Mountain Resort. SOS Outreach pairs young people with adult mentors on snow, serving more than 300 participants from El Dorado and Douglas counties at Heavenly and Kirkwood. Clean Tahoe has cleared litter and illegal dump sites across the South Shore since 1988.
“The people who walk through our doors are our neighbors. Some have shopped here since they were groms and now they bring their own in for boots. Those relationships are the business. Sending this money to four groups that keep Tahoe running is how we say thanks,” said Dillon Stephan, manager of BlueZone Sports.
BlueZone Sports runs five stores in South Lake Tahoe, Tahoe City, Truckee, Carson City and Roseville. The company sells snow, bike, water and camping gear along with apparel and footwear, and staffs its shops with local skiers and riders.
“BlueZone has stood with our athletes and our families for years, not for a season. Steady local support is what lets a small nonprofit tell a family yes instead of no. A check like this is coaching hours and gear on young guns who would otherwise sit the winter out,” said Kevin “Coop” Cooper, president and CEO of the Kirkwood Ski Education Foundation.
“We are incredibly appreciative of BlueZone, and their support runs deeper than a check once a year. This money goes into trail work, and those trails belong to anyone who rides them. Partners who stay with you year after year are how a trail system gets built,” said Drew Bray, executive director of the Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association.
More information is at tamba.org, kirkwoodskiteam.com, sosoutreach.org and clean-tahoe.org.
