As the month of July hit Texas it brought our annual ration of triple-digit temperatures along with the sad news that two long-time motorcycle events were being shelved for the time being and I’m going to address the easiest one first. The Roar by the Shore BikeFest has been an annual event down south along the Gulf Coast when it first launched on South Padre Island in 1993 and then moved up the coast to Corpus Christi beginning with their 20th year in 2013. Organizers have decided to put the event in mothballs for 2017 to work with the local business community to re-tool the event; they plan to be back in 2018… Now we can address the second event affected because this info is a wild ride to follow! On July 17 word came out from the Dallas organizers of the Stevie Ray Vaughan Remembrance Ride and Concert announcing that after a 22-year run the event is officially over. For North Texas riders, this ride was a must every first Sunday in October to honor the legacy of everyone’s favorite hometown son; the date chosen was due to it being the closest Sunday to SRV’s birthdate of October 3, 1954, in Dallas. “It’s been great producing the event the past 15 years, but I guess all good things must come to an end,” shared event organizer Shon Beall. The event was run as a non-profit and all proceeds were donated to the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Scholarship Fund. “This puts a huge hole in my heart,” said Thursday Bike Night host Randy James from radio station Lone Star 92.5 which had been the event’s media partner for years. “Riding alongside the people that were proud to give and, like me, always looked forward to the first Sunday in October.” Beall went on to say, “It’s all good, was fun but we were ready to be done.” (SRVRideAndConcert.org) Curiously enough, the ride is actually not over but I had to go into Nancy Drew mode to unravel the mystery. I found the generically-named website of RemembranceRideAndConcert.org and there it was—an announcement for the 2017 edition of the ride in Austin. The verbiage references how this will be the 23rd year of the event but no reference to the Dallas ride and the Dallas website made no mention of the Austin ride. I tracked down Tee Barksdale who is the primary contact for the Austin ride and she confirmed that yes, the Austin ride is a continuation of the Dallas ride. Allegedly, the Dallas organizers were running the event “with several copyright infringement issues.” She went on to say that the website for the Dallas event “had to issue a statement for legal reasons.” Allegedly, one of the issues was “not using the correct name etc. (as laid out in the letter of permission from Martha Vaughan).” Tee went on to say that the ride was moved to Austin for the sole reason of support lacking in Dallas. The great news is that the proceeds from the Austin event will still be directed to the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Scholarship Fund and benefit music students at Greiner Middle School in Dallas. Keep the shiny side up and I’ll see you next month!
