Event Report: Winter Romp 2022

Photos by Willow Riston

The classic Maine Winter Romp Rover event used to be on my personal regular schedule. The last time I went and actually went off-roading was in 2009. Boy, have times changed since then! Winter Romp 2022 was a new era of this iconic event, one of the largest Land Rover gatherings in North America.

The event started for me on Wednesday night, when the guy I was traveling with gave me a slightly panicked call. His Discovery Series II need parts and repairs as soon as possible, and it was already after hours. We were T-13 hours to meet up and drive to Maine. We made a plan for me to arrive at his place extra early with parts in hand after a quick stop at the Atlantic British warehouse on the way. I went home, packed my stuff, and headed out early Thursday morning hoping his repairs would go as planned. This was a stupid wish, because when do things ever go as planned with a Land Rover? We ended up rolling out only an hour late, and figured that was a small victory.

Leaving late made our lunch meet-up with other Rover owners from Massachusetts and Georgia a bit tight but still mostly on schedule. We had a great lunch, chatting about events we have been to together and separately through the years. Once lunch was over, we headed north to check in at the Best Western Waterville Grand Hotel, where the parking lot is like a showroom of every Land Rover made for the past 75 years. Once we got checked in it was time to head over to visit the host of Winter Romp, Bruce Fowler, who has been holding this event in the woods near his house for over a quarter century. The event has grown and changed, but Bruce has been a constant, as has the landscape and businesses of Waterville. Winter Romp is a significant economic generator in a very quiet off-season time for these restaurants and stores, and Romp has a marked impact on small business here.

A few years ago, the Romp attendees pooled their money to buy the land where the event is held, which was previously used under various handshake agreements Bruce made with his neighbors. The land is now held in a trust and called the Sebasticook Millennium Green, after the river that runs through it. The trails are iconic – among Land Rover fans, the Pit of Despair and the Bypass are as famous as Hell’s Revenge and Black Bear Pass. They were all carved over the years by volunteers who come over various weekends before Romp to set up the land.

Friday is the less busy day on the trails. We spent the day making first tracks through deep snow and cutting up and removing blown down trees. Friday evening was the welcome dinner and auction at the hotel’s banquet room to raise funds to support the event and land for years to come. The auctioneer was volunteered without any previous arrangement until it was thrust upon him and he did great!

Saturday was a day back out on the trails running them with friends. The trails were busy, but not nearly as packed as other years. The land purchase allowed the Romp group to build more trails than there were before, giving people a lot more room to spread out. There were over a hundred trucks, but they were absorbed better than before.

I had to head home Sunday morning, but the event kept going with more trail runs and a raffle for “George,” a D2 that was donated for a raffle to raise funds again for the maintenance of the land. The lucky winner now has another Rover to feed and care for in his garage.

Overall, the event was great. The new Rovers are in abundance on the trails now (including a number of new Defenders) and the old Series trucks putter along right with them. Nothing like seeing a 1960s Series IIA leading a brand-new Defender 110 down the trails! When you can get this many people to gather in the middle of Maine in February, you know this community is alive and well.