Atlanticade biggest event in 20 years - May. 06, 2010
BY BARB RAYNER
barbrayn@nbnet.nb.ca
ST. ANDREWS – Atlanticade is being described as the biggest event to hit Charlotte County in 20 years and, if the weather cooperates, there could be 5,000 motorcycles in the region between June 30 and July 4.
At Tuesday’s annual meeting of Charlotte County Region Tourist Association (CCRTA) held at the Atlantic Salmon Federation, chairman of Atlanticade Dale Hicks talked about how excited they are to be bringing the event, which has been held in Moncton for the last three years, to St. Andrews.
Explaining the decision to relocate, he said, “It was people in this room and their associates who called us out of the blue last year and then Tim (Henderson – town manager) got on board.
“Our first response was why go to St. Andrews but the more we talked to the Fairmont Algonquin and the more we talked to Tim the more the light started to go on.
“We are coming to St. Andrews because of the initial interest and the community here is embracing it. We are getting calls from people wanting to be involved. Our participants are really excited about it.”
In fact, said Hicks, dealers in Moncton say there is more hype about the event being held in St. Andrews than when it
was staged in Moncton.
“When we got involved in this discussion we made a commitment we would come here for a minimum of three years but it is our goal that I will stop riding at one point and this event will still be here.
“We see this as a long term thing but it really depends on the community and, so far, it has been excellent. We want to leave town and have people say they want to come back and have people who live here say they want them to come back. If that will work I think we will be here for a long time.”
Hicks said another question he is constantly asked is how many bikes there will be in the region.
That is very difficult to answer, in large part because participation will be weather-dependent, Hicks said. Pre-registrations are ahead of 2007 and 2008 and a little shy of where they were last year.
However, Hicks noted that only about 20 per cent of participants pre-register.
For the last couple of years in Moncton he said pre-registration was just under 1,200 and they estimated they had about 5,000 bikes there for the event.
“There could be 5,000 bikes but they are going to come and go although a large portion will be around for a two or three day period. The numbers we don’t know but it is very much dependant on the weather.”
This first year in St. Andrews will be a learning experience for all of them, said Hicks, and it is going to be difficult for hotel and restaurant owners to gauge the numbers.
“All I can say is - be ready. I would say 1000 to 1,500 if it rains and if it is like this (sunny) for five days I don’t even want to guess.”
While they have not actively marketed the event in the U.S., he said, it is on a website over there and they already have people from Maine and one from Florida registered. He said they also have more people registered from Ontario than anywhere, other than New Brunswick.
“People ask what happens if you can’t find a place to stay – then mission accomplished - but there will be a lot of day trippers come in.
“If we can fill the majority of the accommodation in the region here, from our perspective, that is mission accomplished. This is year one. We will see what happens but we are very excited about the potential and the enthusiasm.”
He said they target the 35 to 65 age group but there will be a wide variety of bikers in the area for that weekend and, regardless of the age range of the participants, Atlanticade will be a great event for the region.
“We are excited about it because you guys are excited about it so hopefully we are going to be here for a long time. I want to thank you for your enthusiasm and we are looking forward to a long relationship.”
Association chairman Garrett Turta then presented Hicks with a $10,000 cheque towards the cost of promoting the event. The CCRTA is a major sponsor of Atlanticade which is expected to bring an estimated $3,000,000 into the region.
“With riders attending from all parts of Canada and the nearby U.S, the region stands to gain an enormous amount of exposure,” said Turta.
CCRTA assisted the local planning committee, chaired by Tim Henderson, to secure the event and for the past year a number of accommodation providers throughout Charlotte County, who are members of CCRTA, have been contributing to a destination marketing fund.
The purpose of the fund is to promote tourism in the area and the association felt this was a great way to bring business to the whole county so sponsoring Atlanticade became the first allocation from that fund, explained Turta.
Events planned during Atlanticade include a St. Andrews treasure hunt, several treasure hunts in other parts of the county, a show and shine on Deer Island, a veterans’ honour rally at Kingsbrae Garden, a poker run hosted by Oak Bay fire department and Biker TV, a parade from St. Andrews to St. Stephen and a waterfront motor cycle showcase in St. Stephen.
A VIP package available to riders promotes participating merchants and attractions in the county by providing a discount to those who visit the business wearing their green identifier wrist bracelet.
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