Daytona Beach, Fl. Local Residents Attempt to Bring an End to Bike Week

Daytona Beach, Fl.
The last stragglers have finally loaded up their trailers, taken their bikes ,their camping equipment, and most importantly their money home.

A week after the events of the 66th annual Bike Week have officially ended, you can still find the Harley Davidson's, The Yamaha's and every other motorcycle brand imaginable cruising the street's in and around Daytona Beach, but For the most part these are the locals, The year round resident's who enjoy the Florida sunshine, that for 9 month's out of the year allow them to saddle up and feel the wind on their face.

There was a time about 10 years ago that Daytona Beach would be getting into tit's Spring Break mode. One of the reasons that Daytona Beach was given the title "The worlds Most Famous Beach", was the fact that it was the most popular Spring Break destination in the world. Tens of thousand's of excited college students from every corner of the country and even overseas would flock to Daytona Beach, for two weeks of all night parties, all day sunning, and of course for the inevitable hook ups with the opposite sex. The place to be during Spring Break was Daytona Beach. Spring Breakers brought their bags ,their cars,their clothes and their credit cards. With MTV and VH1, sponsoring and televising all the happenings both live and taped feeds to all corners of the globe, there was no other place a 20something college student would rather be.

MTV held concerts and gameshows right on the beach, their were Huge celebrities from the music and television industry hanging out downtown. You could catch a Hootie And The Blowfish concert, and ten minutes later be a contest on MTV's Remote Control. VH1 had there dance competition's and bikini competition's on the sand by the peir. Whatever your pleasure, you had only to look around. Budweiser, was here even the Trojan Condom company had a booth. I suspect they did good business, with so many attractive young people away from the confines of ordinary life. Daytona beach was the hottest party place in the world for those two weeks.

The local vendor's lived for this, knowing that 1/2 their annual income could be generated in the 2 weeksof Spring Break and the 7 days of Bike Week . Hotel rooms were at a premium, and there was not a rent-able room available for 50 miles in either direction. No vacancy signs lit up the night for 14 solid days. Hotel owners on the phone's constantly telling people, sorry we are full. The night club's were filled to capacity and bouncers hired specifically to control the huge crowds, spent a good portion of their nights simply turning people away.

Then there was the cruising. Just driving up and Atlantic avenue, also called A1A. That was a big thing. Cruising the strip. Girls in bikinis and sandals guy's in their shorts and thats all just looking to hook up, just having a good time.

Inevitably though, the fun must end. After several consecutive years of death's caused by people climbing from one balcony to another and falling, and some other serious fights that ended in a stabbing death and serious injury, the local residents finally had the Leverage they needed to begin their push to get the Spring Breakers out.

For year's I would listen to resident complaints about noise, and traffic on the news. The police starting cracking down on the spring breakers. I don't blame them for that, they were getting a lot of pressure from outside sources to clean up Spring Break activities. A no cruising rule was put into effect, to help stem the flow of traffic on A1A. It didn't work. the cruisers, cruised and the drinkers drank, and for a while the party continued.

Then Suddenly getting a vendors license wasn't as easy as it used to be. The police were enforcing all the laws that they used to turn a blind eye to. Under constant pressure from local residents and resident based organizations, the City Council pushed the larger sponsors away. With the exodus of MTV and VH1, Pepsi and Coke, and of course every beer manufacturer on the planet, the crowds and the money soon followed. Million's of dollars in annual income made it's way towards Mexico. The new haven for all things Spring Break.

In the wake of the outgoing tide of dollars, were left failing businesses and empty Hotel's. Many businesses whose very existence were based on the money generated from Spring break and Bike week went under. Empty store front's lined Atlantic Avenue and the hottest Night Clubs and Hotels were put up for sale.

And so it begins again. The local resident's of Daytona Beach and its surrounding area's are pressuring the City Council to push the Bike Week and Biketober Fest, crowds away. Claiming noise and traffic as their platform. They use the death toll from Bike Week as another excuse also. The same people who just 3 years ago removed the mandatory helmet law, that now allows bikers to ride without any head protection are using the death toll to attempt to drive away the Bike Week crowds, the Bike Week money.

The impact this would have would be devastating to the local economy. For these people who do not rely on the money that events like Bike Week and formerly Spring Break generate this is no huge loss, but to the hundreds' of restaurants, hotels , nightclub's,bars and vendors that live off the money they make during these events, this could be the end.

I spoke to many of the Bikers I encountered during this years bike week, about the efforts being made to end Bike Week, and the general attitude among them is, "we ain't going nowhere". I certainly hope not, although, I do remember that very phrase being uttered not 10 years ago, by college students sitting on the once popular, once world famous Boardwalk in Daytona. The same Boardwalk that is now a dilapidated hull of what it was 10 years ago.

I don't foresee the biker's leaving anytime soon, but even the die hards, have there limits. If you are constantly harassed by the police for everything from tail pipes that are to loud, to parking to close to the sidewalk, then yes eventually they will stop coming. I mean what is the point of coming all this way if they take all the fun out of it when you get here?

The resident's who do not rely on Bike Week will raise their wine glasses and cognac's if this happens and they will once again toast, "To The Death of Fun", and I for one hope they choke on it.
Rodney Reed