Published: June 30, 2009 11:06 am      

A thunderous success | Crowds up, problems at a minimum

This past week’s Thunder in the Valley motorcycle rally had success written all over it.

Here are a few reasons why:

* What was believed to be a record crowd turned out Saturday, lured by the traditional parade of motorcycles and a sunny day. In fact, many believe the crowd for the four-day event to be a record, reaching or surpassing a quarter-million people.

Unbelievable and particularly heartwarming to see so many folks downtown.

* Participation by nonbiker families grows each year. The children’s play areas downtown and in Richland Township at times were jammed with youngsters and their parents, particularly on Saturday.

Good thinking by organizers.

* Accidents and arrests again were at a minimum despite the nature of the rally and the number of people in attendance. Participation by nonbiker families could be a prime reason for that. One returning downtown vendor observed that “This is more like a biker rally/county fair,” referring to the large number of young children walking through the vendor area.

On the downside, she said, “There aren’t really 200,000 bikers here and that hurts efforts to attract parts manufacturers and bike builders,” both of which were missing from this year’s rally and both of which attract out-of-town cyclists to rallies.

“It was a pretty smooth event,” said city Police Chief Craig Foust. “There were no serious incidents and no serious accidents. It was a very nice event for all involved.”

In Richland, Officer Jeff Peters said the most trouble occurred at a township motel, where two men were arrested for fighting. “Alcohol was involved,” he said. Police also dealt with noise and drinking complaints involving motel parking lots. “People called and (the gatherings) were broken up by police before it got out of hand,” Peters said. “But there was very, very little in the way of problems.” He noted that attendance was up at the Richland Fire Company’s complex along Scalp Avenue and that police helped firefighters monitor security there.

* As usual, the rally apparently brought no major public-safety problems.

“When you have that many people in one area, and that much traffic, I think that, all in all, we have a pretty good record,” said Lisa Rager, executive director of the Greater Johnstown/Cambria County Convention and Visitors Bureau, which plans and organizes the rally.

* Wheels & Wings in Ebensburg just keeps getting bigger and better, while organizers of events in Nanty Glo and Windber keep improving their lot. Somerset for the first time this year became a big draw for bikers.

“To me, it’s amazing how quickly this event has grown, and how every year it runs better and more smoothly than the year before,” said Ebensburg council member Doug Tusing about Wheels & Wings. “It’s just overwhelming,” added Christine Strugala, the borough’s community development director and a main organizer of the event.

* Additional churches and service and other organizations sponsored places to eat this year. That’s certainly a part of Thunder’s mission – to spread the wealth while still attracting the dollars needed to pay for entertainment hired by the CVB.

* Anybody reporting to work Monday morning will confirm the yeoman job done by cleanup crews – public works departments and volunteers.

“We’ve perfected the art of cleaning up,” said Jayne Korenoski of the CVB.

We agree.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the low turnout for the Donnie Iris concert Friday night at Point Stadium downtown. And although a lot of people can offer reasons why, the important thing is that the city continue to look for ways for the underused stadium to be a part of this rally.

Plenty of people are deserving of plaudits for another successful rally, but none are more deserving that the CVB staff – Rager, Korenoski, Karen Soliday, Lisa Lybarger, Olivia Bragdon and others.

Before starting to plan for next year’s rally – it actually is a yearlong process – the CVB staff has taken the remainder of this week off for vacation.

A well-deserved one, don’t you agree?