Saturday's Fall Bike Fest is expected to draw a thousand motorcyclists and raise money for some good causes.
By KELLY VIRELLA
Published November 21, 2003
PALM HARBOR - The last time Old Palm Harbor Main Street put on a festival to raise money for downtown Palm Harbor, the parrot heads came in characteristic Jimmy Buffett fan attire: Hawaiian print shirts and flip-flops.
At this Saturday's festival, the clientele is likely to be a bit more scruffy.
Think tattoos, piercings, long beards, leather and full motorcycle dress. Palm Harbor is having its first Fall Bike Fest, courtesy of Old Palm Harbor Main Street.
One thousand bikers are expected to rumble into downtown for the event, which will feature two rock 'n' roll bands, lots of barbecue, beer and, of course, a bike show.
Many downtown businesses and residents are saying, bring it on.
"Sounds like a place for me to go do some marketing," said Richard Piotrowski, who was landscaping the lot of his 2-week old business the Healing Zone on Tuesday evening.
"It's great to have new people in the neighborhood," said Sherrie Mendizza 42, who lives a few blocks from the festival site.
Mark Stokes, 49, who lives one block away, on 11th Street, was a bit more apprehensive. He used to play in a band that was on the biker festival circuit, and has misgivings.
"Festivals are nice and they bring a lot of business to the area," he said. "But sometimes they get too noisy."
The festival is free. It begins at 4 p.m. and runs until 10 p.m. and will cover three blocks of Florida Avenue, between 11th and Omaha streets. Bikers can enter the festival on Alternate US 19 at Florida Avenue and on 12th Street at Nebraska Avenue.
The festival will feature about 40 vendors.
Old Palm Harbor Main Street will use the proceeds from beverage sales and vendor fees to support its revitalization of historic downtown Palm Harbor, said Deborah Voss, co-chairwoman of Fall Bike Fest.
One of the nonprofit's biggest goals is to make downtown more pedestrian-friendly with wider sidewalks and more landscaping.
"We want to bring people back out to the neighborhood and help them know their neighbors," Voss said. "We love downtown Palm Harbor and we want to see it preserved."
Bikers Down, an Oldsmar nonprofit that raises money for bikers hurt or killed in accidents, will get the proceeds from a raffle at the festival.
Festival organizers have hired security, but they expect for the event to be orderly. "That old envisioning of bikers as the Hell's Angels-type of people is outdated," Voss said. "These are doctors and lawyers and Indian chiefs. They have to be able to afford these bikes."
That's not the whole story, said Nicolas Kourchenko, a biker with earrings and tattoos who runs Bikers Down. "We do have an influx of professionals: doctors, lawyers, CPAs," Kourchenko said. "But you do have a lot of hard-core, long-beard, tattooed, beer-drinking bikers."
Still, there's nothing to fear, Kourchenko said. "These are some of the most caring, solid, unified, go-to-bat-for-you-type people you ever want to meet," he said.
There are about 200,000 bikers in the Tampa Bay Area, he said. They raise about $100,000 a year for charity, he said.
Old Palm Harbor Main Street started talking about holding a bike festival in March. They visited several, including ones held in Plant City, Leesburg, Zephyrhills and Dade City.
Two volunteers were so enchanted they bought their own bikes, Voss said. "It's not noisy. It's not unruly. It's just fun," Voss said.
