Tag: motorcycle rally

The VFW Post 9242 is requesting volunteers to help with a Memorial Day event on May 27 and with the upcoming Hollister Motorcycle Rally, from July 3-7. On Memorial Day, volunteers and members of the public will gather in San Juan Bautista at the Leslie L. Garrett Post 6359 at 8:30 a.m. and proceeding to Hollister. During the biker rally, the VFW members will partner with the American Legion Post 69 to work at the Veterans Memorial Building in exchange for a percentage of the proceeds from the rally. They will also be selling food in the annex as a fundraiser. Those interested in volunteering for either of event as Honor Guard may call Paul Arballo at 636-0794 or 207-2852 or those interested in set up or clean up may call Mike Pulido at 637-6015 or 637-6670.

Officials are on the right track with planning for a revived motorcycle rally by hiring a qualified event manager, drastically cutting the law enforcement budget and - perhaps most poignantly - putting those hogs back on the main drag.

A majority of Hollister council members have expressed support for the proposal before them Monday night to sanction a 2013 motorcycle rally and approve an event manager.

Hollister officials have estimated that law enforcement would cost $113,400 for a 2013 motorcycle rally – an amount that is less than one-third of the bill for security at the most recent biker event in 2008.

The city's signature event and its best chance for renewed economic activity has been dormant over the past four years, so it is good to see city council members are showing serious interest in reviving a Hollister motorcycle rally in July 2013.

Hollister council members on Monday heard a presentation from the airport director to move the 3-year-old Hollister Airshow from Memorial Day weekend to a weekend around July 4, while the officials are set to consider a formal recommendation for the change.

It took me a while to sit down at my desk and write about how I felt about our fourth year without a rally. How does one stay upbeat and positive while they watch the number of visitors to Hollister shrink exponentially every year without our famed motorcycle rally? I'll confess for me it is a huge struggle. I admit that Johnny's is very well the hardest hit by the loss but I know that our community as a whole suffers because of it.