Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009
is anybody out there?
As the bike week debates continue to heat up heading into the November city elections in Myrtle Beach, another Pilgrimage Fall Rally has come and gone. Much like the Spring Rally, numbers were down and vendors were complaining, but tens of thousands did turn out. An accurate figure isn't available but local sources were predicting 10,000-20,000 people compared to the 40,000 that have been here in the past.
I really didn't expect much, but noticed increased motorcycle traffic prior to the official start of the rally, which ran Sept. 30-Oct. 4.
On Saturday (Oct. 3) afternoon during the rally, my wife Sissy and I hosted a group at Pizza Grill-a, our family's restaurant in Litchfield. The group, of which we are "members" (in quotes because there is no official membership process) met for the second annual Myrtle Beach Our Gang Fall Rally meet-and-greet. There were friends from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the local area. We had lunch at the restaurant, followed by a stop at the Rebar in Georgetown for a little pool and karaoke, then a beautiful ride through some Georgetown County back roads. After a comfort break, some of us continued on to Murrells Inlet planning to stop in at the Beaver Bar at the County Line. We ended up parking at the gas station next to Hoof-N-Finz because the lots for both Beaver Bar locations and Suck Bang Blow Original were full, despite the best efforts of the rally haters. Another part of our group participated in a ride sponsored by another organization in our area leading me to conclude there was still plenty going on.
From what I could gather, the city of Myrtle Beach remained largely ignored during the rally, which I'm starting to think is OK with both sides of the fight at this point, with the exception of the businesses who are suffering because of the boycott. I think the bikers are fine avoiding the city and the blue hairs and Dunes Club dwellers feel like they got what they wanted.
I have to feel for the businesses caught in the middle, but I am really struggling to find evidence of proprietors standing up for themselves to take May back. At an ABATE meeting a couple of weeks ago, I met a couple of the pro-rally candidates running for city council against the incumbents, including mayoral candidate Bea Catalano, and then read a couple of days later about her getting a DUI. Not a great start.
I sent an e-mail to an organization that is supposedly set on righting the ship called H.E.L.P. (Help Eliminate Lousy Politicians) asking, "With the Myrtle Beach elections right around the corner, my friends and I are all wondering why, other than a couple of fundraisers inside the city limits - which is being boycotted/avoided by a lot of your voters - H.E.L.P. and BOOST [another pro-tourism group that was at one point supposed to join forces with H.E.L.P.] have been almost invisible. What candidates do [H.E.L.P. and BOOST] endorse? Where do the candidates stand on issues? What is being done to rid the city of the incumbents? What are you raising funds for?"
I got a response from Trevor Tarleton, Chairman of the Board for H.E.L.P. (who could not speak for BOOST) saying, "As for H.E.L.P., we have hosted voter registration tables all over Myrtle Beach. You can go on the Web site and see the local businesses that aided our last-minute voter registration and areas we set up registration tables during the Fall Rally. H.E.L.P.'s missions have been completed for the most part, we registered hundreds of voters, attempted to raise enough signatures to have both issues placed on the ballot, but fell short. [H.E.L.P. petitioned for single member districts and for a referendum on the 1 percent Local Option Tourism Development Fee - aka the 1 percent Ad Tax).] We are still in the process of finding the right candidates to support. We can't endorse a candidate because we are not a PAC [Political Action Committee]. We are a non-profit, non-partisan organization and have to abide by SC Laws. Right now there is so much turmoil and political maneuvering, we are taking our time and trying to find the best candidates who have the same interests as H.E.L.P. We still have 25 days until the election."
If you wonder why we - the biker community - lost the city of Myrtle Beach, it was because of a lack of organization on our side, a lack of support by the business owners (who I actually think support the rallies - at least the Harley rallies), and a lack of outrage by the citizens of Myrtle Beach when their mayor and city council ran amok. In a word: apathy. If the whole lot of them isn't ousted in November it will be for the exact same reasons.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions of bike-related topics send a "Big E-mail'' to surgebiker@yahoo.com.