Don’t write the rally off just yet
What are you going to do?
Faced with more than a decade of escalating losses as the result
of the annual Independence Day motorcycle rally, the Hollister City
Council this week voted against assuming any financial risk for a
2009 repeat performance.
Don’t write the rally off just yet
What are you going to do?
Faced with more than a decade of escalating losses as the result of the annual Independence Day motorcycle rally, the Hollister City Council this week voted against assuming any financial risk for a 2009 repeat performance.
The first rally was held in 1997, 50 years after a handful of bikers got a little rowdy in downtown Hollister. While the local paper covered the event for what it was, it seemed to capture the public’s imagination, and a photo of a drunken biker straddling his bike in a sea of beer bottles made the pages of “Life” magazine. With the help of Hollywood and a generous portion of hype, Hollister adopted its reputation as “the birthplace of the American biker.”
Bolado Park had already been established as a venue for annual motorcycle events, and the simple fact is that the American biker was not born during a rowdy weekend in a quiet farm town. Some veterans returning from World War II were captivated by the idea of customizing – chopping – their American bikes for speed or style, and hitting the road as American gypsies and creating an iconic image at the same time.
Irrespective of history, Hollister was picked as the place for a colossal party, and the bikers came. And came. As many as 100,000 visitors packed Hollister each year over a long summer weekend. Among that crowd were a handful of people affiliated with organized criminal gangs. The combination of large crowds, ample supplies of beer and people with a demonstrated tendency toward violent behavior brought the attention of local law enforcement. The result each year has been a call for outside support, and a subsequent bill that burdens Hollister taxpayers with as much as $300,000 in uncompensated costs each year.
Given that the city had to go begging to local taxpayers for a sales tax increase to maintain services just a year ago, the only sensible course is to insist that any rally promoter must guarantee to pay all costs up front. That’s a move that last year’s promoter, Horse Power Productions, indicates it is unwilling to take.
The council’s 4-0 decision Monday (Councilman Brad Pike was absent) does not mean that the community cannot be the venue for future rallies. It only means that the city will no longer bet on the come line and be left holding the bag for expenses that should rightly be borne by a promoter.
Borrowing from the successful experience of other large-scale events, the appropriate format of any rally is clear.
Any event needs to take place in an area that can be contained, so admission fees can be charged and crowds controlled. Permits, insurance and adequate law enforcement, as defined by the governing jurisdiction – city or county – must be arranged and paid for in advance by any promoter.
When all that’s done, gentlemen – and gentlewomen – start your engines.
