Daytona's Bike Week roars toward finish line on Main Street
DAYTONA BEACH — For seven years in a row, Mark Bamberger has ridden his motorcycle from his home outside Cincinnati to Bike Week, a ritual that inevitably culminates in watching the combination of characters and machinery roll past him along Main Street.
“This is the main part of it,” said Bamberger, 61, a lawyer who made the transformation into that field after an 18-year career as a geologist.
Parked in a prime viewing spot along the outside deck at Dirty Harry’s Pub, Bamberger was among a throng savoring the sights — and creating them — during the closing weekend of Bike Week 2023 on a perfect Saturday afternoon under cloudless skies with temperatures in the mid-70s.
“At home, it’s snowy and in the 30s right now,” he said. “I got caught a little bit in the rain yesterday, but it’s all good. It’s all part of being a biker.”
Before the event’s conclusion on Sunday, Bamberger also was going to introduce his girlfriend, a newbie motorcycle fan, to the charms of Bike Week after she arrived for her first visit.
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“She’s never been to a bike rally before,” he said. “I’m going to show her what’s going on here. She was never into the biker culture until she met me, and now she’s down with all of it. She and her poodle love to ride with me. They call themselves ‘Shrimp and Grits.’ The poodle is Shrimp; she is Grits.”
On Main Street, Bike Week closes with big crowds
As Bike Week’s closing weekend unfolded on Saturday, its sights and sounds were everywhere on Main Street, the traditional hub of a regional event that annually attracts an estimated 300,000-400,000 visitors to the area that includes Volusia, Flagler, St. Johns, Duval and other counties.
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Except for a brief rainstorm on the eve of closing weekend, this year’s event rolled along amid sunny skies and occasionally hot temperatures. For merchants and vendors along Main Street, who depend on Bike Week and its fall companion event, Biketoberfest, to ring cash registers, the hospitable weather yielded plenty of customers.
“It has been amazing,” said Justin Grzybowski, a sales representative with Inferno USA, a manufacturer of high-end custom eyewear with tents stationed throughout the 10-day event on Main Street as well as Destination Daytona in Ormond Beach. “We’re doing screaming deals; we’re just killing it out here.”
The response at Bike Week eclipses the business generated by other special event stops this year in Boston, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Denver, Grzybowski said.
“It’s a great crowd, a big turnout, and this is our crowd,” he said. “It’s a motorcycle crowd and we cater to riders.”
The story was the same for many brick-and-mortar businesses along Main Street.
“The event has been fabulous,” said Tom Betts, brewer and co-owner at The World’s Most Famous Brewery, who was too busy serving customers to offer an in-depth analysis. “I’m selling a lot of beer.”
At Carol’s Cat House, the feline-friendly gift shop across the street, owner Carol Boprie-Daniel also was ecstatic about the event’s impact.
On Saturday, she had only one T-shirt remaining in a limited-edition commemorative run of souvenir shirts being sold as a fund-raiser for Sugar Shack Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization devoted to the care of feral cats.
She also was selling plenty of other items for cats — and even some for dogs.
“There are a lot of cat people, but a lot of people also have little dogs,” she said. “We’re selling a lot of little helmets and little goggles for dogs that ride.”
At the landmark Boot Hill Saloon, marking its 50th anniversary at this year’s Bike Week, the shelves of commemorative T-shirts were empty behind the souvenir counter, where a handwritten sign advised “Inventory Being Restocked.”
Some Main Street merchants were less upbeat, however.
Bike Week sales were down about 20% compared with last year’s event at the apparel and accessory shop One Sexy Biker Chick, said owner Inessa Hansen.
Hansen attributes the decline to both the state of the economy as well as media reports about the recent sale of numerous properties on Main Street and the potential effect of that deal on Bike Week’s future.
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News in January of the sale of more than 30 beachside properties owned by Theresa Doan to CTO Realty Growth LLC has generated speculation that this year’s Bike Week could be the last hurrah for such established Main Street businesses as Dirty Harry's Pub & Package and Full Moon Saloon as well as The Bank live music club and the building that houses the Biker's Den apparel store.
CTO has temporarily leased the properties back to Doan who will continue to run her businesses for the next few months, according to John Albright, CEO of CTO, the real estate investment trust formerly known as Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. After that, the company is “open to possibilities,” he said.
It’s a topic that Hansen has heard about from numerous customers, she said.
“Bike Week is not ending,” she said. “We need to get the word out there.”
Bike Week's impact extends beyond Main Street
Across the Main Street Bridge, meanwhile, Bike Week also was generating big business at Indian Motorcycle Daytona Beach, where visitors jammed at outdoor tent to gaze at custom choppers at the annual Rat Hole motorcycle show.
“It’s been a good Bike Week, on par with last year and maybe a little better,” said Bill Walsh, the dealership’s parts manager. “We’re really excited about what’s happening.”
The positive impact of this year’s Bike Week extends beyond Main Street, said Janet Kersey, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event.
“I’ve talked to a lot of different businesses and they are saying the cash registers are ringing,” Kersey said. “We’re creating economic benefits for our community, which is what we need.
“The crowds seem really happy, happy to be here, enjoying the weather and the events,” she said. “When we go out to official welcome center (at One Daytona), there are pins on the map to show where people are from and we’ve been amazed at the number of visitors from Canada, from Europe, Germany. It’s amazing how many international visitors are coming in this year.”
Hoteliers also happy
In the hotel realm, Bike Week has generated 10 consecutive sold-out nights at the 744-room Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort, the area’s largest hotel, said Jim Berkley, general manager.
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“We’ve had our strongest revenue performing Bike Week in history,” Berkley said. “It has been an extremely busy Bike Week.”
In Daytona Beach Shores, the event also offered a boost to the 212-room Shores Resort & Spa, said Rob Burnetti, general manager.
“It didn’t sell out as soon as it normally does, so it took a little longer to get to the numbers we expected, but we’re happy with the results,” Burnetti said. “It’s a great event for us.”
Bike Week also was hailed as “a monstrous success,” by Bob Davis, president and CEO of the Lodging & Hospitality Association of Volusia County.
“The weather up north has brought a lot of bikers to us,” said Davis, a veteran of nearly 60 years in the destination’s hotel industry. “I think it’s one of the best Bike Week’s we’ve ever seen.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona's Bike Week 2023 concludes with big crowds, happy merchants
