Drawing large numbers of people into San Benito County in the
hopes of padding local coffers with tourism dollars is never a bad
idea. In fact, it’s what specific groups, including the Chamber of
Commerce, downtown associations and numerous other organizations
have banded together to do for years.
Drawing large numbers of people into San Benito County in the hopes of padding local coffers with tourism dollars is never a bad idea. In fact, it’s what specific groups, including the Chamber of Commerce, downtown associations and numerous other organizations have banded together to do for years.
And while controversy brewed and finally boiled over with the recent cancellation of the Hollister Independence Rally, we believe the possibility that the City of San Juan Bautista will take the rally, and ultimately the money that comes with it, is a bad idea.
Hollister didn’t resurrect the rally from the days of the “Wild Ones” simply because it wanted to bring money into the city. While the opportunity to capitalize on the rally is tremendous – albeit no one within San Benito’s borders has been able to pull it off – it’s the mystique and tradition of the original brouhaha in 1947 that drew people from all over the world to San Benito Street.
It’s been said time and time again, but we feel the need to say it once more: Hollister is the birthplace of the American biker.
Not San Juan Bautista, not Santa Clara County destination Casa de Fruta, and not some remote area of San Benito County. Hollister. While the rally has the potential to be an economic windfall for the host city, taking it out of Hollister takes the reason for the rally with it.
In a time of economic struggle on a local, state and even national level, it’s easy to get lost in the dollars and cents of it all. And for tiny San Juan Bautista, with a meager annual operating budget of just over $1 million, even a few thousand extra dollars making their way into the general fund are enticing.
However, the city that can barely keep its head above its water and sewer project, which, along with a federal grant is falling apart before city leaders’ eyes, should not attempt to tackle an endeavor as large as a motorcycle rally simply for the money.
The Hollister Independence Rally began has a labor of love for organizers, and ended as one as well considering the bankrupt state of affairs the Hollister Independence Rally Committee has found itself in.
If the rally is to ride again, it should be for all the right reasons and in Hollister where it was born.
