http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/weeklysurge/Ridin-with-Big-E/story/754375.html
Let The Spin Begin

By Eric "Big E" Rutherford

For Weekly Surge

As most of you know by now the mayor of Myrtle Beach, John Rhodes, and the Myrtle Beach City Council have raised taxes and enacted a number of new ordinances designed to discourage people from coming to Myrtle Beach for the motorcycle rallies each May.

While the Bike Week opponents celebrate their victory, most of the bikers I know have agreed that they will keep outside of the city limits of Myrtle Beach during the month of May ... and the other 11 months of the year, vowing to never spend any more money inside the city limits. T-shirts are being sold that read "Not a Dime in '09" illustrating the movement by motorcycle owners to take their business (all of it) elsewhere.

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While it remains to be seen what will happen in May, the 2008 Fall Rally was probably a pretty good indicator. Some bikers bagged the rally altogether, but tens of thousands still came and just decided to avoid the city of Myrtle Beach.

As the Spring Rally planning season and dawn of the New Year are upon us, both sides of the fight have gone public with their take on things and each has launched a Web site dedicated to getting their messages across.

Representing the haters, the City of Myrtle Beach has produced the propaganda site at www.MyrtleBeachBikerInfo.com, containing three pages: A message from the mayor; New Rules and Ordinances; and, FAQs, a "Frequently Asked Questions" page.

The message being sent on the city's site, albeit laced with false niceties, is clear: "Bikers Go Home," or stay home as the case may be. It purports to welcome law-abiding visitors from all walks of life at any time, while at the same time making it perfectly clear that the city is done with the rallies. In doing so, I feel city officials overstepped their authority, as they are wont to do where the rallies are concerned, by declaring the rallies are over. The mayor's letter opens, "Myrtle Beach is no longer the location for two long-running motorcycle events." The sub-heading on each of the Web pages reads, "Effective 2009, Myrtle Beach, SC will no longer host motorcycle rallies." The truth is, however, the city of Myrtle Beach was never the host of, or in charge of any motorcycle rallies and is therefore not in a position to declare them over.

The "Myrtle Beach Spring Rally," which will celebrate its 69th year in 2009, is an event started by the Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealers Association, a group of dealerships from both North Carolina and South Carolina. The "Cruisin' the Coast Rally," which is basically an extension by the local Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson dealerships (which are not part of the CHDDA), is their event, not the city's. "Myrtle Beach Bike Week" is the pseudonym representing the entire week for which no one can really lay claim. Sonny's Productions, owner of www.MyrtleBeachBikeWeek.com purports to have been granted the trademark for the phrase "Myrtle Beach Bike Week," but it is widely accepted as simply the generic name for both of the events above combined.

On the other side of the fence, trying to woo the bikers to the Grand Strand area, conceding everything within the city limits of Myrtle Beach, is the Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson dealership and its special event and vendor coordination arm, Festival Promotions.

Throughout the course of events dealing with the anti-rally movement by the Myrtle Beach mayor and his council, the dealership has been one of the few constants fighting for its interests and those of other area businesses and the motorcycle community. Its representatives have been present at every public forum hosted by the city of Myrtle Beach, Horry County and third parties interested in the rallies. They have filed lawsuits to challenge several of the city's new ordinances; and they have launched their own Web site intended to convey their message to bikers that regardless of the city of Myrtle Beach's nay-saying, the vastly larger part of the community welcomes motorcycle riders in May and the rallies are alive and well.

You can view the site at www.mbbikeweeks.com. The site offers information regarding city boundaries; roads visitors can use to remain outside Myrtle Beach city limits; a list of biker-friendly businesses; and links to demonstrate how small the city itself is when compared to Horry County and the greater Grand Strand area.

Both sides are working hard to get their messages across so it will be interesting to see what affect the spin doctors have on attendance at the next rally, slated for May 8-17. I'm with the camp that says "come on down, but stay out of Myrtle Beach." I think all of the businesses that stood by and watched their elected officials raise taxes to chase away millions of tourism dollars are in for a rude awakening. Speaking of elected, Mayor John Rhodes is up for re-election at the end of this term. That should be pretty interesting too.

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