Wednesday, May. 13, 2009
initial rally impressions
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Bike Week 2009
The new, unofficial motto for the spring Harley-Davidson rally in the Myrtle Beach area is “F.U.M.B.” I have seen it on the back of T-shirts, on rally maps, and on signs in front of businesses in both Myrtle Beach and Murrells Inlet.
I wrote this column on Sunday night following the first weekend of Bike Week 2009, so I am expecting much bigger crowds and a lot more motorcycles this coming weekend, beginning Friday. Hopefully, there will already be a noticeable difference by the time this edition drops, because frankly, the first weekend was pretty quiet.
In years past, motorcycles would start trickling in the Wednesday and Thursday prior to Bike Week and by Friday night and Saturday it would be impossible to look at any major intersection along the Grand Strand without seeing several motorcycles at each of the four corners traveling in all four directions. This year I didn’t really start seeing steady motorcycle traffic until Saturday and even then it was considerably lighter than in the past.
According to the Clay Brittain, Jr. Center for Resort Tourism at Coastal Carolina University vacation rentals for this week are down by 34 percent. I figured if the rally, which based on past figures typically draws more than a quarter of a million visitors, was down by 34 percent we could still expect to see more than 150,000 people in town, but it didn’t feel like they were here yet.
On Mother’s Day, my wife Sissy and I went out for dinner and rode around to check out the rally scene. The new Beaver Bar at the County Line in Murrells Inlet, as well as the original Beaver Bar and SBB next door had pretty good crowds, but we had no problem finding parking where we’ve had to wait in line or circle the lot to find a place prior to this year. The new Beaver Bar location occupies what used to be the Ghost Ship restaurant. I have heard several people say nice things about it, and having been there myself, it looks like a great place to hang out. We didn’t stay long because we were making the rounds, but we plan to be back.
From there, we rode out to the Myrtle Beach Speedway excited to see the new Bike Week event location, which has been promising vendors, stunt shows, and other items of interest for bikers. From Murrells Inlet we took S.C. 707 to Forestbrook Road to U.S. 501 avoiding the Myrtle Beach city limits only to discover an empty lot and a marquee indicating the festivities wouldn’t begin until Tuesday. The weather was nice, so we just chalked it up to a nice ride and figured we’d come back later in the week.
We then cruised back up S.C. 544 to see which so-called “national builders” were appearing at the Iron Gate Saloon (I’d seen something in the Weekly Surge event guide) and to stop by the Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson dealership. Not only did we not see any national builders, we didn’t see any vendors at all at either the Iron Gate or the Harley shop. I spoke to Phil Schoonover, owner of the Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson dealerships, and he confirmed that the vendors couldn’t open until Monday because of the new, shorter permits issued by Horry County. He also told me that whereas he’d had a lot full of vendors in the past he thought the dealership probably only had half as many vendors as it used to. At a table inside the dealership offering maps, event guides, and various flyers, a customer expressed his concerns about the vendors not being up and running yet and how few people were in town compared to his past experiences. The staff member manning the table assured him things would pick up as the week progressed.
At RedLine Powersports, there will be no vendors coming this year at all, compared to the 15 the import motorcycle dealership hosted in 2008.
Myrtle Beach city police plan to welcome bikers with traffic checkpoints aimed at citing visitors for helmet, equipment, or other violations. Checkpoints are scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon today on Farrow Parkway at Warbird Park (on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base) and on U.S. 501 eastbound near U.S. 17 Bypass from 10 a.m. to noon today and 1-3 p.m. Friday.
While Horry County officials have done a pretty good job of finding reasonable compromises instead of killing Bike Week, such as Myrtle Beach city officials want, I was irked to see they will be discriminating against and insulting motorcycle tourists by operating what they call the “Horry County Concerned Citizen Phone Line.” I call it a rat line since it is a phone number dedicated to reporting “potential problems or hazards” during the rally. I won’t publish the number here because I’m not interested in helping the county or anyone else discriminate against bikers.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions of bike-related topics send a "Big E-mail'' to surgebiker@yahoo.com.
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