Hollister City Manager Bill Avera on Monday indicated that the promoter of the community’s signature event, the Independence Day motorcycle rally, wants to move the event so it starts the second Friday of July each year and misses the holiday altogether.
Avera expressed support for the idea as a way to ensure the city can hire the necessary number of police officers—demand for security is higher on the holiday weekend—and keep costs at a minimum.
He said the request came out of a “pretty good debriefing” he received from the rally promoter for 2015, ConvExx, and the Hollister Downtown Association, which officially contracts with the city to run the event and then subcontracts with the promoter.
Avera said he hoped council members could iron out that and other details—he also encouraged the council to permanently close bars at midnight on the Friday and Saturday of the motorcycle rally, as the city did this year—soon so there is no scheduling crunch in 2016.
“More importantly,” he went on, “what we want to do is have the rally to begin on the second Friday of July, regardless.”
He said that way, the dates are set in stone.
“We don’t necessarily have to deal with the Fourth of July on a Friday or Saturday,” he said.
He said there was some push-back about the move from the HDA because the Street Festival & Car Show, another downtown association event, would take place the week after the rally.
“This is probably the best route for us to go,” Avera said.
If council members go ahead with the date change, it would be the second time for such a switch in the rally’s history. In 2008, the city sanctioned the rally over the second weekend in July for similar reasons. The city canceled the rally following that year’s event before reviving it three years ago.
