OCEAN CITY — In the wake of OC BikeFest’s cancellation, resort officials are not throwing any support behind pop-up motorcycle events on the same weekend.
In late July, the OC BikeFest promoter announced she was cancelling the 2020 event due to public health and safety concerns during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The consensus in the weeks since the announcement is many of the bike enthusiasts will still come to Ocean City next month because it’s an annual tradition.
At least two unofficial and unplanned pop-up motorcycle events are in the works for the same weekend in September previously occupied by the official Ocean City bike week events, according to City Manager Doug Miller, who briefed the Mayor and Council this week.
“Just so you know, because of COVID, we’ve had the cancellation of BikeFest this year,” he said. “The BikeFest promoter called us last week quite concerned there are two pop-up events that are going to try to take advantage of the bike enthusiasts that are going to come to Ocean City anyway. Many have reservations in Ocean City and it’s a good place to come whether there is BikeFest or not.”
Doug Miller said in the spirit of supporting the official OC BikeFest promoter’s decision to cancel her event in the interest of public safety, the recommendation is not to lend any support to the proposed pop-up events and disallow the use of any city property for them.
“We have taken the stance, unless the council feels otherwise, that we’re not going to support any pop-up bike events,” he said. “For example, for BikeFest, we have allowed trailer parking at the Park-and-Ride and unless you decide otherwise, we’re not going to do that. One of the pop-up promoters wants to do a bike parade through town and use the convention center and we’re not going to allow that.”
Special Events Director Frank Miller agreed.
“As everybody knows, the promoter chose to cancel BikeFest for reasons of safety, not just for her staff and the participants, but for the people in town,” he said. “I believe it is our intention to support that direction with regards to the pop-up events.”
Frank Miller said it would be counterintuitive to support the OC BikeFest promoter’s decision to cancel her event in the name of public safety and then turn around and support the proposed pop-up events planned to fill the void.
“If we’re going to support the promoter and stand behind her decision and not allow large events that could create gatherings of people and possible additional hot spots in town, I believe the right thing to do is not support any pop-up events,” he said.
Council Secretary Mary Knight agreed and said she supported the OC BikeFest promoter’s decision to cancel the official event.
“I agree 100%,” she said. “I was in the meeting with the promoter when she was pondering whether or not to cancel BikeFest. Her concern for Ocean City honestly touched me. Her concern was she did not want to give Ocean City a bad reputation. Anything we can do to dissuade the pop-up events, we should do.”
The council agreed with the decision not to support either of the pop-up events including a planned bike parade or the use of the convention center lot, for example. However, Councilman Matt James questioned the decision not to allow trailer parking at the Park-and-Ride in West Ocean City.
“I think even though the official event is not happening, a lot of bikers will still be coming to Ocean City because they probably expect the weather to be good, they already made hotel reservations and it’s something they look forward to every year,” he said. “Is there a reason why we couldn’t have trailer parking available because they can’t be on the street?”
Doug Miller said it was certainly possible, but wasn’t recommended in the spirit of discouraging the events.
“If that’s your desire, we can allow that,” he said. “We could, but our initial stance was that we weren’t going to do that.”
Under normal Bike Week conditions, participants can apply for permits to park trailers on certain side streets, park trailers at the municipal lot at 100th Street or park at the Park-and-Ride. James said with many of those other options not available, it might be a good idea to allow trailer parking at the Park-and-Ride.
“I just think it’s nice to have that available if we’re not going to allow trailer parking on the street and we know folks are still coming,” he said. “It might help us if we don’t have trailers parked in the side streets.”
Councilman Tony DeLuca agreed if the town knows bike enthusiasts are coming anyway, the Park-and-Ride should be available for trailer parking. The consensus among the council was to allow it.
“I agree with Matt,” he said. “I think it tells people not to come here. I agree with not allowing the bike parade and the pop-up events at the convention center, but I think letting them park trailers at the Park-and-Ride is helpful to the city and alleviates some of the issues on the streets.”
