Atlantic Beach wants to meet to talk about Bike Fest, Harley rally

A representative for Atlantic Beach said Thursday that the town was surprised by the Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson dealership’s plan to move its biker rally events into Memorial Day weekend, when the town has its annual Bike Fest, and wants to meet with the dealership and other area cities to talk about it.

After days of buzz about dates for the Harley rally, attention shifted Thursday to the other bike rally in May, the Atlantic Beach Bike Fest. One town councilman said the rally will happen as usual during Memorial Day weekend, while the town’s mayor pro tem said Atlantic Beach needs to consider its options for the rally.

Atlantic Beach hasn’t yet approved details of the annual Bike Fest that happens every Memorial Day weekend - it usually hasn’t by this time - but plans to get a report on how much the town brings in and spends on the Bike Fest during a meeting Feb. 6, Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn Cole said Thursday.

“The council has not firmed up any plans,” Cole said. “Atlantic Beach - we are concerned and we want to make some informed and responsible decisions.”

Councilman Jake Evans said that Bike Fest will happen as usual. Revenue from the event - the town netted about $80,000 from Bike Fest last year, he said - already is in the town’s budget for this year. He expects many more bikers along the Grand Strand with the Harley rally overlapping Bike Fest.

“I imagine that is going to be some crowd to control,” he said, adding that he only recently learned about the Harley dealership’s plan. “We are definitely going to go through with [Bike Fest].”

Cole said the town council must consider all options after getting the financial report.

“Atlantic Beach simply may not be able to afford Bike Fest,” she said. “We are going to have to talk numbers.”

Confusion about the Harley rally has swirled since Friday, when the Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson dealer posted the “Cruisin the Coast” rally dates on its website as May 18 through May 28, starting later than usual and continuing into Memorial Day weekend for the first time. Despite those dates, most area businesses that have rally-related events planned, including Jamin Leather and SBB, say they are sticking with the original dates earlier in the month, which would lead to three weekends of Harley-rally related events in May starting the weekend of May 11.

Horry County had planned to allow vendors for the Harley rally between May 14 and May 20, but the council agreed earlier this week to talk about potentially doing away with permits for vendors because of the shift in dates. That discussion will happen at the council’s next meeting on Feb. 7.

The Harley dealership moved its dates aiming to make it easier on the county, which has to provide public safety resources for the Harley rally then Bike Fest, said Denise Medlin, spokeswoman for the Myrtle Beach Harley dealer.

Phil Schoonover, owner of Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson, suggested in an e-mail to Horry County elected leaders Dec. 3 that folks, including hospitality businesses, public safety and city and county leaders, meet to talk about shifting the Harley rally dates, managing the rally events and changing Horry County’s rules for rally vendors. Medlin said the dealership never got a response to that e-mail. Some of the details outlined in the e-mail have evolved in the past month, including when the rally would end.

“It’s been explained to me that one of the major issues is the necessity of having to manage public safety for Harley week and Memorial weekend the same even though the events are not similar,” the e-mail from Schoonover said. “I propose a change of the dates of the Spring events, eliminating one of the weekends by combining the two events into one, compressing the length of time from 21+ to 12-14 days total. Ending the event on either the Friday or Saturday of Memorial weekend with a "Guinness Book of Records" parade out of town, bound for the annual Rolling Thunder Reunion in Washington DC.”

Medlin said it took the Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson dealership longer to release its rally dates this year, and before they were released other promoters already had started advertising the usual dates.

“For years [Schoonover] had been thinking about backing it up a bit. He still was mulling it,” she said of the delay in posting the dates. “[Other promoters] can do anything any time they want.”

Medlin said she plans to schedule a community meeting in the next three to four weeks “and let everybody sit down together.”

Cole and Councilwoman Windy Price issued a statement late Wednesday saying Atlantic Beach, as well as other cities along the Grand Strand, should have been included in discussions about Memorial Day weekend. The pair wants the town to meet with the dealership and other cities after Feb. 6, when the Atlantic Beach Town Council gets its update about Bike Fest, Cole said.

“This could get very complicated,” Cole said. “You don’t want this to be a bad experience for anybody coming to the Grand Strand.

“We need to sit down and talk...We just can’t afford a whole lot of ill will, and we don’t want that weekend to turn into any kind of mayhem.”

Bike Fest was a topic Monday on a biker conference call called Block Talk, which is based in Baltimore and includes bikers from across the country, said Shawna Prior, who runs the call.

“It was mayhem [on the phone],” she said. “Feathers got ruffled. The bikers want to know if people are trying to push out the Bike Fest crowd.”

She said people wondered where they will stay if there are that many more people in the area during the Memorial Day weekend, and how the cities and the county would handle traffic and law enforcement.

"There were some people who wanted to just move the whole thing away from Myrtle Beach, and other people who wanted to cancel their room reservations," Prior said.

Cole and Price said in their written statement late Wednesday - which was issued on town letterhead - that the change in the Harley rally comes as Atlantic Beach is trying to make more of its heritage tourism opportunities.

“Their announcement comes at a time when Atlantic Beach is planning for its long-term inclusion in Horry County’s vision as a family-friendly beach by investing in its unique cultural traditions and taking advantage of heritage-based tourism to attract year-round visitors to Atlantic Beach,” according to the statement.

Staff reporter Lorena Anderson contributed to this report.