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Welcome to the Atlantic Beach Bikefest/Black Bike Week
Committee Website.
We are a group of
concerned individuals coming together to solidify and strengthen the
Events at Myrtle Beach During Black Bike Week and the Atlantic Beach
Bikefest. To create an harmonious Event for attendees,
businesses and City officials.
With creative ideas
and the help of sponsors, the town of Atlantic Beach and the cities
of Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach we can make Black Bike Week /
Atlantic Beach Bikefest 2004 the best yet.
History of the Atlantic Beach Memorial Day Bike Festival
(Black Bike Week)
The founding fathers of the Atlantic Beach
Memorial Day Bike Festival have watched the event grow
up.
Eighteen years ago, five young men who called themselves
the Carolina Knights sat around in a disco and conjured up an idea
for a motorcycle rally at the beach. The first rally in Atlantic
Beach drew a small, close knit group of friends who loved to ride
motorcycles. Now, 20 years later, thousands of bikers flock to this
beachfront community and surrounding cities. The festival has
expanded from a weekend event with a few hundred people to a
weeklong celebration drawing crowds of 100,000.
It used
to be an exclusive Atlantic Beach evenness. But in the past three
years, festival goers have spilled into Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle
Beach, and other areas of the Grand Strand. Last year, some
officials and residents attributed the traffic gridlock to the
bikers and complained that the festival was marked by lewd behavior
such as bikers having sex in public and urinating in the streets.
During Atlantic Beach's earlier festival, complaints were limited to
bikers drag racing in the streets and loud music. Back then it was a
time for motorcycle club members to meet, mix, and mingle. They ate
chicken bog, danced and vied for trophies in contests for the best
looking motorcycle. It was a small intimate gathering. But it will
never be the way it was. And that's ok with the Carolina Knight
Riders, who hoped word of mouth would help the festival grow when
they organized the motorcycle festival.
The year was 1980
and Jimmy Carter was president when this group of weekend road
warriors decided they wanted to do more than just ride their bikes
throughout the county on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. They had
formed in 1977 as the Flaming Knight Riders and in 1982 received a
charter as the Carolina Knight Riders motorcycle club. "Our purpose
is being a motorcycle club," said Kenneth Gore, past president of
the club. No foolishness involved. We are a club and are here for
whoever needs us. The club is open to anyone who can pay the $10
monthly dues, and ownership of a motorcycle is not required. "Anyone
can join us. We have a lot of women who have been with us from the
very start." said McDonald "Mac Daddy" Vereen, road captain of the
club, as he sat on his Harley-Davidson. "We don't care what you ride
as long as you ride with respect." Today, there are 30 active
members in the group. The youngest member is 21 and the oldest is
"up there" is all the members would say.
When the group
wanted to start a motorcycle rally and race, they had no place to go
except the town of Atlantic Beach. They event was held on the
streets of the town and was sponsored by the club. Back then only
one police officers was needed to patrol the event, said Harry
Wilson, a retired Horry County police officer who was assigned to
the festival. But over the years, the club and the town parted ways
when their ideas didn't mesh. The club's idea for the festival
centered on motorcycles, but the town wanted to become more involved
and turn it into a social event. Now with a new administration in
place, the town and the Carolina Knight Riders have joined forces
again. "We are going to let bygones be bygones," said Kenneth Gore.
"This event is so big now that we've all been working really hard on
this." But the club members say they are not surprised
the event
has gone from a few hundred people to 100,000 over the
years.
The members said that over the past 18 years they
have been traveling the East Coast to other biker events, such as
the one in Daytona Beach, Fla. At the events, the members pass out
fliers and extend invitations to biker clubs to come to Atlantic
Beach. "We've been looking for our friends to come here for the last
18 years," said Glenn Gore, the current president of the Knight
Riders." It all started from nothing and now look at it. "They said
they were surprised by what the call "Tag-alongs." They identify
tag-alongs as college students who come to town to party and hang
out during the festival. "Just because you get on a bike for the
weekend doesn't make you a biker," said club member George
Livingston. "The media lumps everyone in town that weekend into the
biker category, and everyone is not a biker. Those kids come to
party and that is just not us." The club members are protective. The
say the controversy surrounding the event that spread to Myrtle
Beach has nothing to do with them and they don't have much to say
about it. "They wanted us to change our festival," Livingston said.
"But can you change Thanksgiving or Christmas? It can't be done.
This weekend is about bikes, whether they are Black or White, coming
to our beach rally," said Glen Gore. We welcome all as long as they
keep it clean and respect us.
Courtesy of
The Sun News |
