In 1947, when 3,000 bikers descended on Hollister for a series
of hill climbs and motorcycle races, local news accounts estimated
that they spent $50,000 while in town.
In 1947, when 3,000 bikers descended on Hollister for a series of hill climbs and motorcycle races, local news accounts estimated that they spent $50,000 while in town.
Unfortunately, the city ended up losing money that year. Bikers turned Hollister’s main drag into combination drag strip and beer bottle target range, the California Highway Patrol had to be called in to quash a riot and dozens of bikers injured during the “worst 40 hours” in the city’s history left town without paying their hospital bills.
In 2005, more than 120,000 bikers came into town for the Hollister Independence Rally. That year, motorcyclists didn’t riot, they didn’t destroy the city, they spent their money and left peacefully.
But, again, the city lost money.
Longtime event organizer, the nonprofit Hollister Independence Rally Committee, went bankrupt and left the city with an unpaid $250,000 bill for law enforcement costs. Then the Hollister City Council, by a vote of 3-2, voted to cancel to the 2006 rally, citing financial concerns. And again, the city lost money. It ended up shelling out more than $100,000 paying law enforcement agencies to patrol downtown streets when more than 10,000 bikers decided to roll into Hollister despite the cancellation.
Hollister’s inability to benefit from an event that brings in 120,000 free-spending tourists is unprecedented. The weeklong biker rally in Laconia, N.H., one of the three largest motorcycle events in the country, is estimated to bring in between $170 million and $210 million for that state. A Laconia survey recently found that each biker spends $500 to $700 while in town, according to the Wall Street Journal. Official Sturgis Motorcycle Rally merchandise has generated $750,000 for local youth clubs and organizations in the small North Dakota town, according to the Journal article.
It’s high time for the city, the police, the business owners and local residents to embrace the rally. Canceling the rally won’t help, and the 2006 invasion is a perfect example. It’s time to come together and figure out a way to make the rally work. The Hollister Downtown Association and the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce should be leading efforts to plan for a reinvention of the Hollister Independence Rally in 2007.
Hollister Mayor Robert Scattini recently formed a rally committee designed to make the biker invasion a success next year. The committee is meeting at 6pm every Tuesday at the City Council Chambers or the Veteran’s Memorial Building. Every downtown business owner should be attending these meetings and offering to help out. Especially those businesses that traditionally close shop each year when the bikers come to town. Don’t like bikers? Don’t sell anything bikers like? Well, then it’s time to change. Open a lemonade stand, get creative, be a capitalist, sell something, even if it’s just for the weekend, that bikers will buy next year. Quit complaining about not having enough parking for regular customers; the rally is an opportunity to do business with 120,000 new customers.
And those residents who board up their home before leaving town for the 4th July, need to be part of the solution. Leaving town is fine, but let’s try to work together and host an event that benefits local business starved for growth by the city’s sewer moratorium. Not only has the rally proved a boon for businesses, it has also kept dozens of area charities afloat.
Time is of the essence, so let’s come together, as a city, as a community, to make the rally work.
