The first wave of engines are revving. New clothes stands crop
up by the day. Bars and busy intersections are decorated by
beer-sponsored welcome signs. Locals, meanwhile, wait.
The first wave of engines are revving. New clothes stands crop up by the day. Bars and busy intersections are decorated by beer-sponsored welcome signs. Locals, meanwhile, wait.
And wait.
And wait.
But in less than three days, our black leather-adoring visitors from near and far will “invade” our city, increase the general noise level by about 100-fold, drop a bunch of money into our local economy and keep a boat-load of cops busy patrolling the streets and sidewalks.
After a year hiatus, the rally that came to personify a distant piece of Hollister history, that came to give about half the residents a headache and the other half a reason to party, is back.
It’s the third coming, if you will. There was a beginning, 1947; a second coming, 1997; and now there’s an entirely new era in the rally’s history. It’s the era of private, professional promotion, as in Horse Power Promotions.
After years of mounting hits to local law enforcement coffers, questions in 2003 arose over whether taxpayers should pick up the rally’s tab. Others wondered how an event that drew around 100,000 people to downtown could suffer through financial challenges. In 2006, the road ended.
In rebuilding the rally through outside resources, the city built a bridge between the old and new, between a publicly-funded nonprofit and a privately-funded business, between certain death and a road with no end in sight.
So with all the shiny newness to this year’s event, there hasn’t been more on the line for the continued sustenance of the tradition since 1997, its first year as a sanctioned event.
While many people here cherish the rally, take pride in its legacy, countdown each and every year to the July 4 weekend, there remains a large portion of our population that does just the opposite, and outright loathes the atmosphere created when downtown transforms.
With that in mind, a delicate balance of views keeps the rally’s standing in perpetual uncertainty. There are, after all, five City Council members who decide whether the party continues or ends.
If Horse Power Promotions’ version of the Hollister Motorcycle Rally strikes a bolt of energy into the local economy, avoids any major public safety debacles and attracts enough bikers to make the sacrifice for some worth it, the tradition would fortify its foundation. The bridge would hold strong.
But if the new rally fails to draw the numbers the old one did, fails to provide enough entertainment to keep the fan base coming back for more and fails to maintain the sense of pride that made it so difficult for officials to cancel it in the first place, then the road may be shorter than anyone imagined.
