Atlantic Beach seeing different crowd than Myrtle Beach

Darron Lockhart didn’t haul his bike to Bikefest this year.

After reading about three fatal shootings in Myrtle Beach last Memorial Day weekend, the 43-year-old from Richmond, Va., decided to take a break from two-wheeled transportation. He’s also spending his vacation in Atlantic Beach and North Myrtle Beach, places with older attendees and a more relaxed atmosphere.

“It’s a bike rally,” he said, thumbing through two-for-$10 T-shirts, “as opposed to a party.”

As Bikefest crowds began to swell Friday afternoon, vendors and bikers seemed optimistic about this year’s event.

They remain proud of the festival, which dates back to 1980, and they insist the violence Myrtle Beach saw last year isn’t indicative of what happens in Atlantic Beach, where the festival is headquartered.

“It’s pretty much the same group of people that comes year after year,” said Eric Lewis, a former Atlantic Beach police chief who was renting mopeds at the corner of U.S. 17 and Windy Hill Road. “It’s just a night and day difference from this crowd in Myrtle Beach.”

For years, Lewis worked Bikefest as an officer with the North Myrtle Beach Police Department and later with the Atlantic Beach force. But when he got into the moped rental business in Myrtle Beach two years ago, Lewis was floored by the Bikefest mayhem there.

“I thought over the years policing in North Myrtle Beach I had seen sights and wonders,” he said. “But I had seen nothing compared to what I saw down in Myrtle Beach. It’s just a totally different crowd.”

During his decades in Atlantic Beach, he became familiar with festival regulars, including many older riders. Those bikers, Lewis said, often police themselves.

“If they would catch somebody out there doing something bad, those guys stepped in and would put a stop to it,” he said. “They would tell some of the younger guys that was with them, ‘You’re drawing attention to us and we don’t need that. We’re here for a good time. We’re not here to try to show off and get hurt.’”

The Cycle Kings Motorcycle Club of Trenton, N.J., has been rolling into Atlantic Beach for about 20 years. This year, more than 30 members made the trip, including 43-year-old Sincere Garrett.

“It’s going to be a good crowd, but we’re getting a bad name from stuff that happened [in Myrtle Beach last year],” he said. “We come to enjoy, ride, eat and fellowship with other bikers.”

Riders contend the motorcycle clubs that come for Bikefest shouldn’t be lumped in with last year’s killings in Myrtle Beach.

“They’re always trying to connect us to it,” said Ronnie “Dark Rider” Livingston, a 50-year-old U.S. Army veteran who rides with the Kings. “It’s people that have nothing to do with bikers.”

He pointed out that just the term “biker” is also getting a negative connotation because of the recent violence among outlaw biker gangs in Texas.

“You see what’s happening in Waco?” Livingston said. “That’s not us.”

What the Kings are, he said, is a club of about 100 guys who ride to bike rallies and in between hold coat drives and collect back-to-school supplies. Livingston added that many bikers are doctors, lawyers and business owners. He worked for 20 years as a corrections officer in New Jersey.

The Kings admit they aren’t perfect, but they’re certainly not a murderous bunch. And they’re disappointed with local officials’ response to last year’s shootings, particularly the 23-mile loop that will reroute traffic from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. this weekend.

That loop wasn’t used for the recent Harley-Davidson Cruisin’ the Coast Spring Bike Rally. But Bikefest, which is commonly called “black bike week,” will see the shift.

“People are still coming,” Garrett said. “The loop is a little bothering for us. They didn’t have it last week. They shouldn’t have it this week.”

Lynn Hicks, a 52-year-old member of the Sunday Riders of Hampton Roads, Va., said he’s not thrilled about the loop either.

But it won’t stop his club from hitting the streets after dark.

“We come down here to ride,” he said.

For Bikefest vendors, that’s encouraging news.

They also heard about the traffic loop, but they don’t expect the late-night route to deter the usual crowd, especially in Atlantic Beach.

“We have a good crowd, a nice base that comes back every year,” said James Cain, a 28-year-old from Atlanta who was hawking bottles of cold water. “It doesn’t matter what the circumstances [are]. They find ways.”

Cain’s family owns property in the area and he’s been coming to Bikefest since he was 12.

“As a tourist attraction, people don’t come to Atlantic Beach,” he said. “People usually go down to Myrtle. As far as bike week, people [in Atlantic Beach] make their living off this.”

Lewis, the former police chief, also said the festival is a shot in the arm for the small community of a few hundred permanent residents.

“This is how the town makes it,” he said. “This is a great event for all the business owners in Atlantic Beach. … But it’s not just Atlantic Beach. You would be shocked to know how many motels around here, had it not been for this bike rally, couldn’t have possibly made it through the years.”

The Atlanta Seafood Co. added Atlantic Beach to its list of festival stops a few years ago.

“It’s more low key, less drama up here.” said Ty Glenn, who was selling baskets of fried shrimp and catfish along with piles of jumbo cajun wings. “There’s a lot of money to be made up here. I’ll tell you that.”

For Jay Johnson, the story is similar. He works for Fisher T’s out of Atlanta and has been selling T-shirts at Bikefest for 15 years.

Johnson doubts last year’s shootings and this year’s police response will keep bikers away. He travels to rallies throughout the Southeast and the script isn’t new.

“Every now and then something will happen, something bad,” he said. “People know stuff happens. They don’t let one incident [change them]. … They know it’s not really about just that.”

This story was originally published May 22, 2015 at 8:34 PM with the headline "Atlantic Beach seeing different crowd than Myrtle Beach."