Letter: Bar owner calls this year’s Hollister Rally the best yet

I said it would be epic and I was on the money. No pun intended there was plenty of money flowing. I am overcome with gratitude because the 2013 Hollister Motorcycle Rally was the best one ever. I’m so thankful that the city council unanimously voted to bring it back. Now they can all share in the pride of the most successful rally ever on their watch. The event manager, Mark Creswell, did a stellar job. I knew he was the right man for the job and he did not disappoint. He worked so hard. When the non-profit that signed up to handle garbage pulled a no-show he picked up garbage himself from the time the event ended until the sun came up Friday and Saturday night. That’s where I spotted him Sunday morning. He was still zipping down San Benito Street on that forklift picking up garbage. He is the one person I know of that got less sleep than I did over the weekend.
I can’t say enough about how wonderful Hollister P.D. and law enforcement in general was. With Chief Dave Westrick at the helm there was a new attitude shared by all and attendees noticed the difference as much as I did. I heard it over and over again from patrons: “The cops are so pleasant this year and they aren’t walking around in packs of eight with scowls on their faces looking for trouble. They are friendly and nice.” There is no describing how much it reduced the stress of the weekend for me. I don’t think I could have survived another rally with the old attitude. I’m voting Chief Westrick man of the year. The only incident I had all weekend involved a Hells Angel and Captain Reynoso and his team were fantastic. I immediately downloaded the video footage of the incident to a DVD and handed it over to officers. I was treated with respect and courtesy and we all worked as a team to keep thugs off of our streets. And law enforcement costs were less than a third of the last rally with twice the attendees.
There were more attendees than I’ve ever seen this year and that includes 1997. They were so thrilled to have the rally back. They brought their smiling faces and full wallets and gave not only my bar and grill, but also our entire county a huge financial boost. I ran out of the 200 pounds of tri tip I purchased from our local Nob Hill Foods and I purchased 2,400 pounds of ice from my friends at Damm Good Water. I employed 33 extra employees, some who have been out of work for quite some time. The boost was so huge that the ATM machines in town all ran out of money. It was pretty crazy for me so I never got out to see the vendors but I’m sure they did very well. The veterans and the other non-profits I spoke to did better than they ever have.
The 2013 rally was everything our rally should have been all along and with Mark Cresswell organizing the event and Dave Westrick as our police chief it can only get bigger and better. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I know Hollister will be the Sturgis of the West Coast and the entire state of California will benefit from it. Way to go guys.
Charisse Tyson, Hollister