Plant City bikers should strap on their helmets, rev up their engines and head over to Plant City Bike Fest this weekend, because it will be their last chance to go on a monthly basis.
Bike Fest is sponsored by the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce, but president Marion Smith said the chamber wants to move in a different direction with the event, making it a quarterly show.
“We just think that the monthly show has probably run its course,” Smith said.
When Bike Fest began as a monthly event in October 2002, and in its early years, about 15,000 people attended, and there were more than 12,000 motorcycles. Collins Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard were shut down to accommodate all of the bikes.
“It was beautiful. But that was in its heyday,” Smith said.
During the recession, from 2007 to 2009, the show lost some of its key vendors, and the crowd started to change in age and interests. Attendance started to drop. The most recent shows have had about 3,000 bikes.
“The activities that have worked in the past may not work now, and we think it is time that Plant City Bike Fest gets ‘reinvented,’” Smith wrote in a public letter on behalf of the chamber.
Smith also said that because bikers and vendors have been able to count on Plant City Bike Fest every month, they often chose to attend other events when there was a scheduling conflict. They knew they would be able to return to Bike Fest the next month.
“We need to make it so that they say, ‘Wow, Plant City’s having a show — we’ve got to be there,’” Smith said.
The chamber is forming a committee whose goal is to make Bike Fest bigger and better, though less frequent. The next show hasn’t been planned yet. It could be as early as May, but nothing has been set in stone. Some of the changes might include better entertainment or bike-building demonstrations. The committee will include representatives from Harley-Davidson, Florida Fun Bike Center, Plant City Motor Sports, bars in the downtown area and vendors who have attended the shows in the past.
The shows will still be downtown, because people seem to like the ambience, and it helps the Downtown Merchants, Smith said.
Smith said there have been varied reactions to this news among bikers and vendors who had attended faithfully over the years.
“There’s some disappointment,” Smith said. “We have some people that understand. … Others are saying, ‘Oh, no.’”
The owners of the downtown bars, Big Dog’s Patio, Cuzzin’s and Silver Dollar Saloon, have made plans to collaborate and offer a monthly event for bikers on a smaller scale. Though this offers an opportunity for local bikers to easily get together, some of Bike Fest’s biggest fans travel from far away, including Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties, and will miss the big show.
Steven Moody, a resident of Lakeland, has been attending Bike Fest for about two years.
“I think that Plant City has gone in the wrong direction with Bike (Fest),” Moody said. “Several of my bike-riding friends could meet at this great central location and enjoy seeing bikes of all kinds.”
Moody said he would probably continue to attend Bike Fest as a twice-annual event if some changes were made.
For example, he and other frequent attendees have said that people should be able to carry their beers with them throughout the venue instead of being restricted, like at Zephyrhills Bikefest. Moody also would like to see a food truck area, which is standard at South Florida Bike Nights. And he thinks an escorted cruise route would increase popularity by kicking off or concluding each Bike Fest with a parade of motorcycles.
The last Bike Fest will be in Historic Downtown from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7. For more information contact the chamber at (813) 754-3707.
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.