After ten years, rain or shine, the Tour de Mayberry always shows itself to be a fun and worthy cause.

Organized to support the Mountain Valley Hospice and Palliative Care, the tenth annual tour had to deal with some wet weather early in the day.

Despite the rain, head organizer Sheila Jones said Saturday’s turnout was still solid.

“I think it made our numbers be down, but I don’t think it’s hurt the experience,” she said, pointing to the large group of people gathered in the hospitality tent. “The ones that are here say they are glad they came so all-in-all it’s a success.”

This year’s tour added a 5k walk/run, which brought out 92 runners, while the overall total was 226 for both the three separate bike courses and the 5k.

Riders and runners had to deal with everything from drizzle to a downpour along their routes, but if the reactions of the 5k participants were any indication, the weather did little to hurt their enjoyment of the event.

Dr. Thomas Parrish said he felt the mindset of most avid runners and bicyclists is to ignore any obstacle like rain and added the worthy cause didn’t hurt either.

“I beat the rain, but it doesn’t usually deter me,” he said. “Most runners and bikers don’t care that much about the weather. Hospice is definitely a much-needed service and serves a lot of people in a good way and this helps encourage people to be active and exercise, so it’s a win-win situation.”

The Tour de Mayberry has always been a draw to those outside the Mount Airy community, and Saturday’s event may have featured the participants who have traveled the farthest to take part in the event in its history.

Tracy Gibson and David Koontz are from Seattle, Wash., and said they joined friends and family from Winston-Salem while on a summer-long sabbatical.

“We both quit our jobs, we put all of our stuff in storage and we are taking a month in North Carolina to visit friends and family and do adventure,” Gibson said. “It’s way cool. We have pictures of the Tour de Mayberry sign. I was actually surprised at how big the town was because we got lost coming here.”

Jones said while the bike ride is the main attraction, with nearly two-thirds of the participants opting for two wheels, the Tour de Mayberry 5k is here to stay.

“We will be doing it again,” she said. “It’s worked out very well. We are very pleased with the turnout and the community support and the volunteers. We’ve had people come up and tell us that they can’t believe this is our first one we’ve done because of the way it’s been organized. I’m not saying that about what I’ve done, it’s because we’ve had volunteers who know what to do.”

Jones said she wanted to thank all 75 volunteers who manned support cars, rest stops and the finish line for allowing the Tour to be a success, despite the dreary start.