Ohio Bike Week draws large crowd

SANDUSKY — Ohio Bike Week attendance hit a record post-COVID high with organizers estimating more than 150,000 people joining in on the celebration. Every year, Ohio Bike Week attracts thousands of visitors to downtown Sandusky, throughout Erie County and beyond to celebrate motorcycles, and this year was no exception. With 10 days of activities, musical performances, shows and group rides, large crowds gathered to experience everything bike week had to offer. Those people — through shopping, dining, lodging and other spending — injected a sizable amount of income to support businesses and help generate taxes for locals. "This year was a great year," said Steve Ernst, president of Advantage Entertainment, the company that promotes and organizes bike week. "Feedback from our community was incredible. City and county leaders seemed to make good comments about the events. The attendance post-COVID was a record of well over 150,000 people. We're still trying to figure it out." During the block party, spanning June 1-3, dozens of food trucks and booths, set up in numerous spots across downtown, sold a variety of merchandise. Additionally, hundreds of motorcycles lined the streets for people to walk past and view. "From my observations, it looked like there were more vendors downtown, there were more food trucks, more activities for people," said Larry Fletcher, president of the Shores & Islands Ohio, the area's tourism bureau said, explaining "not only the people that were attending from out of town for bike week or the local area but residents to be able to come down and enjoy the concerts and the food trucks and the different vendors and such. So it looks like there was just a lot of activity on the pier and the streets downtown." The weather last week played a large role in the success of the festival with visitors extending their stays and spending more time in the area. "I don't think I have ever seen as many people in downtown Sandusky," city ex officio mayor Dick Brady said. "I'm going to say probably based on the great weather that we had, this event had to be a resounding success for the sponsors and for the people that put it on." Moving the festival from its previous main stage locations, Jackson Street's parking lot and the foot of Columbus Avenue, to its current center at the Jackson Street Pier has been an adjustment with some local businesses expressing concerns. "I think some of the businesses downtown and some of the bar-related businesses would prefer the old setup when things were kind of set up in front of their business and those areas," Ernst said. "But I think operationally, for us, and what we have to ensure and clean up this new model is way better for us." Brady said that the move drastically improved the festival, allowed for a much smoother planning process and helped avoid having more traffic, and gave vendors a better set-up space. "It's moved bike week out of the center of downtown, and it's moved that event's focal point to Jackson Street Pier," Brady said. "Three years ago, we spent $8 million reinventing Jackson Street Pier and making it a destination hub for the city of Sandusky. And, honestly, this is exactly why we did that so that we can have these kinds of events." Safety concerns are always high when it comes to having that many people in such a small area, but like many previous years, local law enforcement had little to no issues during the 10-day festival. "I've spoken on several occasions with both our city manager, John Orzech, and our chief of police (Jared Oliver)," Brady said. "Neither of them indicated any type of issue from a law enforcement standpoint that causes any kind of concern." Overall, Ernst said the festival was very successful, and expressed his gratitude for city officials who have been helping out for over 15 years. "We know that with this event, not everybody's crazy about a motorcycle rally," Ernst said. "Some folks just don't enjoy that type of thing. And we realize that, in exchange, we try to be good stewards of the downtown property and when we return it to the city we try to make it cleaner than when we found it."