OCEAN CITY – The City Council gave its blessing to a Boardwalk motorcycle parade to kick off OC Bikefest in September as well as a new beach volleyball tournament for late May.
The private event request for the 2015 OC Bikefest came before the Mayor and Council on Tuesday afternoon. New this year, event organizers requested permission to conduct a parade of motorcycles on the Boardwalk to open the event in September.
“This is the fifth anniversary of OC Bikefest and we continue to evolve the event to attract more people to the Town of Ocean City,” event organizer Kathy Michael said.
The town recognizes potential positive economic impact from lodging, food and beverage, recreation and other incidental expenditures related to this event. Per a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the town and OC Bikefest, the town provides in-kind services and the use of the Sunfest site, including tent rental and additional onsite infrastructure. In exchange, the event promoter pays the Town of Ocean City approximately $85,000 to offset costs incurred by the town such as the loss of Inlet Lot parking revenue, Public Works’ asset and support fees, and Police, Transportation and EMS services.
In addition, the promoter pays $25,000 for use of the Ocean City Convention Center, plus additional Private Event Fees paid to the town that total $1,175, consisting of a $100 Application Fee, a $75 Concession Fee and a $1,000 Space Usage Fee for four days.
The planned parade will begin on 27th Street and the Boardwalk at 10:30 a.m. and proceed south to 4th Street, where the parade will move to the concrete pad and continue south around the pier and enter the festival grounds in the Inlet Parking Lot. Motorcycles will begin to line up at 27th Street and the Boardwalk around 9 a.m.
According to Michael, OC Bikefest is working with John Tartufo of the Red Knights who has conducted many parades on the Boardwalk with motorcycles, and he has agreed to assist in managing the logistics, although the parade is the responsibility of OC Bikefest.
Last week OC Bikefest announced part of its music lineup.
“We have a great lineup of music that is already attracting some buzz,’ Michael said. “There is a double headliner on Thursday with Great White and Kix, and the Doobie Brothers will be playing as the headliner on Saturday night.”
Michaels could not yet announce Friday’s headliner.
The council expressed some concern over the parade and noise first thing in the morning, but voted 4-1 to approve the event, with Council President Lloyd Martin and Councilman Tony DeLuca absent and Councilman Wayne Hartman opposed due to the parade.
In other news the National Volleyball League (NVL) requested a new event to take place in Ocean City. The NVL OC Open will be held May 28-30 on the beach between Dorchester and Talbot streets.
Established in 2010, the NVL is a professional beach volleyball league built by players for all players, united in one mission: to create a sustainable future for pro beach volleyball in the U.S. Home to eight professional events in 2015, the grassroots NVL Beach Series, and the NVL Club Med Beach Volleyball Academy, the NVL is the only national platform for current professionals and players of all levels to showcase their talents and pursue their aspirations in the sport. With sand volleyball now a sanctioned high school sport and the NCAA’s fastest-growing emerging sport, the NVL is building the infrastructure for young players to achieve their dreams.
“We were founded by 18-year former pro Albert Hannemann. We have been operating events over the past five years. Last year we came off of a six event professional tour schedule with prize money upward of $100,000. This year we are expanding to eight events nationally with prize money up to $500,000, including our tour championship in Port St. Lucie, Fla., in September,” Brian Polark of NVL said. “After reviewing East Coast locations, Ocean City became very prominent that this is a location that we needed to be in for a multitude of reasons, including it is well-traveled, well-established as a wonderful business and residential base, as well as a wonderful beach volleyball beach community.”
According to Polark, NVL is working to televise the tour for the first time through a regional sports network with the goal to reach over 40 million households.
The town recognized this event also has potential positive economic impact from lodging, food and beverage, recreation and other incidental expenditures related to this event, and there are no asset and support fees related to this event.
The council voted 5-0 with Martin and DeLuca absent to approve it.