Thursday, Jun. 19, 2008

Atlantic Beach's leaders pleased with yearly Bikefest

Despite Myrtle Beach's intention to spend $1 million to drive away two large bike rallies during the month of May, Atlantic Beach leaders say bikers are still welcome in their town during the Memorial Day weekend festival they sponsor - for the forseeable future.

"We're our own municipality, and I don't see us stopping it," said Mayor Pro Tem Charlene Taylor. "They can stop what they want to stop. The Grand Strand is open to the public."

The accusations of open air drug use and sexual activity on Ocean Boulevard do not reflect the activities inside Atlantic Beach, Town Council members said. The festival inside Atlantic Beach is predominantly a family affair, Taylor said, with people of all ages coming to walk the streets of the town, admire each other's motorcycles, eat at vendors' booths and spend money on souvenirs.

"What I saw up and down the streets was people just riding their bikes," said Taylor, who noted the arrest of Myrtle Beach teenagers in the fatal shooting of a local university student and suggested that Myrtle Beach try a curfew during the rallies.

There is the occasional flash of misbehavior inside Atlantic Beach, said Town Councilman Donnell Thompson, agreeing that some activities could be toned down. For the most part, however, Thompson said Atlantic Beach residents look forward to the festival in their town.

"My constituents are telling me Bikefest must go on," Thompson said. "We're certainly not saying Myrtle Beach is doing wrong for Myrtle Beach. But for Atlantic Beach, we intend to continue to host our Bikefest."

Those bikers of all colors shunned by Myrtle Beach, Thompson said, will be welcome in Atlantic Beach next year - just as black beachgoers once found the little town nicknamed the Black Pearl their only welcoming spot on the Grand Strand.

"It should be about bikers; it shouldn't be about color," Thompson said. "It's unfortunate that the Myrtle Beach council has taken this position, but that's the position people took back in the early '50s. Times change, but sometimes people don't."

John Sketers, a former Atlantic Beach town councilman who helped encourage the Carolina Knight Riders and other motorcycle clubs to come to Atlantic Beach in 1980, agreed that the rallies could stand to be changed. Myrtle Beach's unilateral decision, however, did not strike him as the best approach.

"I don't see how on God's earth you can tell people where to go, how long to go, or how long they can stay there," Sketers said. "We're all American people. We should be able to compromise a little bit."

The 2008 rally generated about $33,000 in vendor fees for the town, after subtracting expenses for law enforcement and cleanup, said Interim Town Manager Charles Williams. His personal reaction, however, is that such a festival is a "deterrent to development."

"I'm not sure Bikefest is consistent with developing the town," Williams said. "In the long range, I think development is a better revenue source than Bikefest."

To some degree, Thompson agreed. One day, he said, Atlantic Beach may decide it, too, wants something other than an influx of bikers.

"Maybe one day we'll be saying the same thing Myrtle Beach is saying," Thompson said.

"Until we get a tax base that's going to give this town revenue. ... Right now we've got to continue on."

Neither Councilman Jake Evans nor Retha Pierce could be reached for comment Wednesday, but Pierce has volunteered to lead next year's Bikefest committee.