Gambler 500 volunteers at the base camp on the event's first day, June 27. Over three days the Gambler 500 volunteers gathered about 225,000 pounds of garbage off the Crooked River National Grassland. Photo by Jenniffer Grant

The Gambler 500 moved to Madras in 2025 after years at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center in Redmond.

The event brings car builders from across the region together to celebrate cheap, rebuilt rides and the great outdoors. Participants clean up garbage while they navigate Central Oregon backroads.

Tate Morgan, the founder of the Gambler 500, noted that estimates are that nearly 100,000 acres were covered and about 225,000 pounds of trash was collected and brought out of the Crooked River National Grassland. The project focused on land north and east of Gray Butte near Terrebonne.

The garbage included two dumpsters full of tires, 15 automobiles, 12 RVs and a boat. Several bins were filled with metal that can and will be recycled, said Morgan. The Young Men Service League helped sort the trash to enable recycling when possible. The staging area included 11 container/dumpsters, of which several were swapped out during the weekend. A total of 30 large trash bins were filled and removed.

The majority of the costs of removing the trash will be covered by the Bronco Wild Fund, which supports the Sons of Smokey nonprofit. Morgan emphasized that neither the Gambler 500 nor Sons of Smokey have paid positions. They are volunteer based organizations for the purpose of trail cleanup so people can better enjoy our outdoors.

The event drew more than a 1,000 volunteers and many wild vehicles (a signature of the Gambler event) to the basecamp off Grizzly Road on the property of the Norton Cattle Co.