PHILLIPSTON— Cycle Design is holding a milestone celebration of its association with Yamaha, and hope that the event helps bring them back to pre-COVID customer levels.

Set to take place on Saturday, July 29, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., this event will mark the Phillipston business’ 32-year association with Yamaha. Due to the pandemic, a similar celebration for the 30-year anniversary wasn’t possible. According to Cycle Design manager Jayma Wilkins, there will be free food and T-shirts, raffles, and a chance to win a new Yamaha TTR 50.

“I said, ‘It’s been 32 years, let’s do something cool,” said Wilkins.

Following the recent end of local and nationwide health emergency declarations, some businesses still struggle to return to a pre-pandemic status—Cycle Design among them. Wilkin recalled those early days after the pandemic began in March 2020. Because the store itself was shut down, all business had to be done in the parking lot.

‘People were looking in the windows and asking us if we were going out of business,” said Wilkins. “I’d say, ‘No, we’re trying like heck to stay in business,’ but there was nothing here. It was hard.”

Because the dealership was not considered an essential business, nobody could enter or leave the service department, said Wilkins. People would call and a member of the staff would go out and see what was being dropped off and handle the paperwork. Wilkins was able to land a Paycheck Protection Program loan, which helped her pay employees who couldn’t work. The business currently has six full-time and two part-time employees.

“I felt they deserved to be paid; they couldn’t work, but I felt they still deserved to be paid,” she said. “Some of them worked from home, answering emails or something like, but the majority simply deserved to get paid.”

The hardest part of running the business with pandemic restrictions in place, she said, was not being able to have people in the showroom. The other was trying get product, as the business was down to 20 bikes. At one point, Honda said it had side-by-side recreational vehicles ready to ship, but couldn’t get the supplier to come up with steering wheels.

“But I will say, we’re kind of pulling back to normal,” Wilkins said. “It’s coming back, but talking to some people at the supplier end of the industry, they’re saying it could be another 12 to 18 months before things are back to normal. But we’ve got inventory again and I’ve got a good group of people.”

Cycle Design is located at 305 State Road/Route 2A in Phillipston.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.

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