Hollister
– After the cancellation of Hollister’s annual motorcycle rally
in 2006, motorcycle fans came forward with a new committee, a new
plan – and a new organizer.
Hollister – After the cancellation of Hollister’s annual motorcycle rally in 2006, motorcycle fans came forward with a new committee, a new plan – and a new organizer.
Seth Doulton of Horse Power Promotions has several big motorcycle events under his belt, including the Grand National Bike Show at San Francisco’s Cow Palace and Oklahoma Motorcycle Madness, but the Hollister rally is his biggest assignment yet. Doulton spoke to the Free Lance on Tuesday about his vision for the rally and its future.
The Free Lance: When the Hollister Motorcycle Rally asked you to get involved in the rally, did you have any hesitation?
Seth Doulton: I had concern over the timeline. The city didn’t really sign off on it until Dec. 6. So basically the work I did from August until Dec. 6 was, you know, just kind of on my own time. Because (the City Council) might have said, “No rally,” and all the work I did for those months … would have been for nothing.
FL: Do you think the late start is going to affect attendance?
Doulton: No, I don’t think so, not at all. I think that the buzz was out there about Hollister, even though it didn’t happen (in 2006).
You know, Britney – or whatever her name is, Paris Hilton – people are talking about her whether she’s in jail or not. The same thing with the rally, whether it’s happening or not happening, it’s really a topic of the motorcycle industry world.
FL: Do you think it’s going to be a different experience for rally regulars?
Doulton: Well, it’s going to feel way different for two reasons. One is that the parking is going to be in a different place. And some people say, “Oh, I used to always ride on San Benito (Street), and that was such a beautiful picture.” But what people don’t understand is, that’s the most valuable real estate. It’s almost like having beachfront property and not building homes there.
And by putting the vendors down San Benito, the center, it’s going to give it a lot more open space. So instead of Johnny’s or The Vault, where it’s so crowded that you can’t even walk through there on Friday or Saturday, it’s going to have a much more open feeling.
FL: How many people are you expecting this year?
Doulton: I just tell everybody that it’s going to be the same as in 2005. I just don’t think it’s going to feel like as many people as 2005 because of the new layout.
What I found out was people would say, because it was on the Fourth of July, “Oh, we go every two or three years,” because they always have family commitments or their husband or their wife has something to do with their work or whatever. This year, we’re a little bit off the Fourth of July, and next year, we’ll be a week off the Fourth of July. By doing that, it’s going to be a rally that people can go to every year.
We haven’t done any local advertising like in newspapers, radio or TV, really, because what we’re trying to do is get to the people who want to be here. We have vendors that sell motorcycle stuff. We want to try to get people that buy motorcycle stuff, not necessarily just 100,000 people that didn’t have anything else to do and they’ll just swing over from San Jose or something.
FL: Is there anything that you plan to do differently next year?
Doulton: Just the stuff that I didn’t have time to really accomplish this year, like get racing back. … I’d also like to have some concerts, not downtown, but have more people come to the area. Maybe Casa de Fruta, San Juan Bautista, Bolado Park.
The politics of putting the rally on was 80 percent of my work, and I only really spent 20 percent on actual rally work … so next year I plan to spend more time planning the rally.
FL: Have you thought about how long you want to stay involved?
Doulton: As long as they’ll have me.
