Issac J. Bailey | New biker dates for a new era

I must confess, I kind of miss what we used to refer to as Bike Month.

It was akin to covering a Category 4 hurricane that arrived every year on a pre-set schedule.

It was exciting and infruriating.

It was the height of the Harley-Davidson spring rally and Atlantic Beach Memorial Day Bikefest.

Each group would bring in several hundred thousand participants and clog the highways and get the locals all riled up because of all sorts of politically incorrect public behavior.

Those who hated the events began hating Bikefest more and underplayed its economic impact while talking up Harley’s.

Residents unlucky enough to live near hotspots felt trapped in their homes or planned family vacations for May.

Others reveled in all the attention and controversy the events generated.

Those were the days when people shared second-hand accounts of rally-goers having public sex and urinating like cavemen. It wasn’t uncommon to get stuck in traffic behind a half-naked woman’s g-stringed gluteus maximus propped up high on the back of a sleek sport bike.

Then the Harley-Davidson owners better organized their event and left behind the days of armed standoffs with police on U.S. 501. Bikefest continued to suffer from inept management and the rowdiness that accompanies any large group of young people with too much time on their hands, too much alcohol in their blood and too little supervision.

Before the actions of the Myrtle Beach City Council reduced the rallies to get-togethers of the faithful, there had been talk about why the rallies were segregated, with mostly white bikers enjoying Harley week and mostly black participants enjoying Bikefest.

Well, don’t look now, but those who long craved that unity – or use the lack thereof as another reason to heap criticism upon the events -- just might get their wish this year.

Harley dealers have announced a May 18-28 for its Spring Cruisin’ the Coast. Some claim there is confusion, but it is clearly an extension of what we all commonly refer to as the biker rally. Most people don’t make a distinction between the events organized by local or state Harley dealers and those put together by others. All they see are a ton of hogs and bikers.

That’s why Horry County Council members have felt blindsided. It means the main Harley event will overlap with other motorcycle events scheduled from May 10-20 – and go all the way into the Atlantic Beach Memorial Day Bikefest.

That doesn’t even include the growing and more politically correct Military Appreciation Days, which will also be occurring over the Memorial Day weekend.

Visions of Bike Months past must be dancing in the heads of local officials who thought the worst was behind them.

But even with the new Harley dates, things won’t necessarily go back to the good old bad days.

The crowds will likely never be as large as they once were.

The road system is much better equipped to handle traffic overflows than it was a decade ago.

A bit of overlap had already begun over the past few years as Harley dealers started looking more to Bikefest for potential customers.

And the nature of those rallies means it is unlikely that those participating in each will meet up and overwhelm any particular area along the Grand Strand. Harley will remain mostly south while the Bikefest will be mostly further north, in and around Atlantic Beach, North Myrtle Beach and Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.

The new rally dates might have sent a jolt through the area. But they don’t signal a significant return to the past.