http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-asec-bike-week-022809,0,2535322.storyDaytona hopes Bike Week roar tunes out recession
By Ludmilla Lelis | Sentinel Staff Writer
February 28, 2009
DAYTONA BEACH - Main Street at full roar — with a steady stream of Harley-Davidsons and sport bikes cruising past bars — offered the perfect escape Friday for tourists such as Patrick Colvin.
The New Jersey man was ready to leave 26-degree temperatures and the economic doldrums that kept his wife and some friends from joining him on his annual pilgrimage to Bike Week. The others couldn't take the time off.
"It's been a grueling winter, and everybody is depressed and has cabin fever," said Colvin, of West Milford. "To get down here for a big party like this, it'll rejuvenate you."
Business owners hope for that same effect from Bike Week. The 68th-annual leather and chrome fest kicked off Friday.
Already, merchants say there's been a strong showing of early arrivals, especially from cold Northern climates, which gives them optimism for the 10-day motorcycle rally.
"The crowd has already been very good, so I think we're going to have a lot of people," said Steve Fritze, manager of Iron Horse Saloon in Ormond Beach, which anchors the U.S. Highway 1 stretch of biker bars. "I don't know how much money they'll be spending, but I think we're going to have a lot of people."
Chill sends bikers south
Daytona's Bike Week, one of the top motorcycle events in the nation, can draw more than a half-million motorcycle riders and has grown well beyond the home base of Main Street. Bikers cruise throughout Central Florida during their stay.
Bob Coleman, co-chairman of the Bike Week festival task force, said it will be hard to project attendance figures. But he hopes that if motorcycle riders are scaling back their spending, they will skip some of the smaller weekend motorcycle rallies elsewhere.
"At the end of the day, this is the motorcycle event to attend, and people will come," he said.
Most merchants expect a strong Bike Week turnout for several reasons. When Northern states experience a long, harsh winter, Daytona sees a huge influx from sun-seeking cyclists.
Friday's lineup of parked motorcycles confirmed that — with dozens of tags from Maine, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New York, and even the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The sunny, 70-degree weather didn't disappoint.
Canadians Janice and Stan Neilson were eager to leave behind zero-degree temperatures at their London, Ontario, home.
"Our dollar stinks right now too, but this is our third year coming, and we always have such a good time," Janice Neilson said. "We need to enjoy the sunshine."
Still could be 'lousiest year'
Though the economy is poor, gas prices have dropped below $2 a gallon, making it a more palatable trip for people bringing their motorcycles on trailers.
Not every merchant is optimistic, though.
Frank Luznar, who runs Cacklebery campground next to the Cabbage Patch in Samsula, the famous site of women's coleslaw wrestling, said the Bike Week crowd has been dropping in size for the past two years.
"It's weaker, definitely weaker," Luznar said. "Bike Week seems to be down 40 to 45percent, and this could be the lousiest year we have."
But Bike Week is a not-to-miss vacation for motorcycle riders, even if times are tough and budgets are tight, said James "Doc" Reichenbach II, president of ABATE of Florida, a nonprofit motorcyclist lobbying group.
"People will come down and enjoy what they can. Some people are getting laid off and getting their severance packages, but they've told me they're coming anyway.
"They're just going to come because they can today, and they don't know whether they can next time," Reichenbach said. "For them, it's their last hurrah."
Ludmilla Lelis can be reached at 386-253-0964 or
llelis@orlandosentinel.com.
