ROT Bike Rally breaks motorcycle event trend
The Staff of Clutch and Chrome
June 20th 2008
Riding against
economic trends the ROT motorcycle rally attracted the largest
crowd its seen
in the fourteen years of holding the event.
Sources say
the
14th annual Republic of Texas biker rally was the
biggest ever, with more than 40,000 bikers
arriving in Austin, Texas. Such an attendance makes the
rally the fifth largest motorcycle event in the U.S.
According to the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau the event
brought $36 million to the Austin economy. The ROT rally
attracted bikers to Central Austin, with the rally using Travis County Exposition Center as its hub. This year's event
included feature rides, parades, exhibits and concerts by Three Dog Night, the Charlie Daniels Band and others.
Signature attractions included the "Big Texas Chop-Off," a $10,000 custom bike building contest
and a tattoo contest hosted by Ami James, of the television
series Miami Ink. Event organizer Colleen Bragg and her husband started the rally 13 years ago. "We've had a major increase from last year, and we thought last year was a big year, but we've got so many different things going on this year and that's what we try to do, we try to keep it exciting and interesting and bring in new attractions,"
Bragg told News 8 from Austin.
Downtown Austin drew not only bikers attending the 14th
Annual ROT rally, but also an estimated additional 200,000 spectators
who came to check out the motorcycles. The success of
Austin's ROT Bike Rally is much needed good news for
organizers around the country who are still planning and
preparing for their own motorcycle events. Rallies are
scheduled in
Gettysburg,
Sturgis and
Vermont over the next few
months. |
