EVENT SEASON AGAIN

It's that time of year again when all of the biker events start filling up every weekend on the calendar. Some of these are great events and have a long and great heritage in the biker community. Others unfortunately really are just money makers for the promoters putting them on. Laconia, Sturgis, Daytona Bike Week, Hollister and Myrtle Beach are some of those long time events. I'm not saying all of those aren't promoter oriented and I'm also not saying all of the others aren't great events either but let's face it, a lot of them are just money makers.
Laughlin, Street Vibrations and Vegas Bike Week are a few good examples of this. Their sole purpose really is to lure you to their event and get you to spend your money. In the old days the events were started because their was some sort of other event going, usually racing. Sturgis, Hollister, Laconia and Daytona Bike Week were all sprouted from racing events. Some like Hollister no longer have racing and the others have taken on a life of their own where racing really isn't the focal point of the event but at least there are other things to do besides just bake in the sun while shopping for your next chrome bolt on do-dad.
To me the best events are those that have some other things to do and go see besides just shopping at the vendor areas. Being a vendor/display person one would think I'd be all about vendors and displays but to me those events with nothing else to do will eventually run their course and attendance will suffer as the economy and boredom take their toll.
Hollister is a good example of an event that really would flourish if there was something else to do besides fight downtown traffic and shop at the vendors. I've been one that has said this over and over again but so far nothing has really been done. Even if there is some nice scenery to ride though most of these events would benefit. Let's face it, how many times can you ride through the same barren scenery to get to and from an event before it starts to wear on ya?
I used to do a lot of major and regional events but between the extreme high cost for trailer space to display, the high cost of hotel rooms and the time away from my family it really started to become a huge drag. I actually took a few years off and didn't do any events at all. The past couple of years have seen me start to do more events though. I'm still only doing a few here and there and those are regional ones but those are probably events that have caught my eye and make sense for me to do. Some I'd like to do again and some I'll probably never go back to. Some I miss doing like Daytona, Biketoberfest, and Sturgis.
Most of these promoter events have become really expensive for vendors to attend and the trailer space alone has become really expensive. I'd like to see others besides the promoters get rich on these deals for a change too.
Next time you're at an event remember to support your vendors, they've probably put out some serious cash to be there.