Atlanticade organizer delighted with results - Jul. 07, 2010
By Vern Faulkner
editor@stcroixcourier.ca
St. Andrews — An unqualified success, and a “home run for the region.”
That’s how Atlanticade organizer Dale Hicks summarized the five-day bike festival that concluded Sunday.
The event, which began June 30, drew registrants from five states and all 10 Canadian provinces, the latter a first for Atlanticade, according to Hicks.
Atlanticade staff were still counting the number of registrations Monday, and an official count won’t be ready until the end of the week. Hicks predicted registered participants exceeded 5,000, with as many as another 5,000 motorbikes who were involved in some weekend event without necessarily registering.
Spurred by spectacular weather, bikers fanned out from St. Andrews and toured the entire region, stopping at places big and small. A number of Atlanticade participants dipped south of the border, many making the Deer Island-Campobello-Eastport loop.
Feedback from participants, businesses and critical industry officials was almost universally positive, he said.
“It was a huge, huge success.”
Hicks said he is “glad that it’s over now,” and that some of the pre-event misconceptions and apprehensions about potential mayhem have now been laid to rest
“There’s no structures burned to the ground, nobody laying drunk in the street,” Hicks quipped Monday.
“In terms of events – this was a pretty tame event,” he said. “This was pretty calm, and easy to control.”
He praised the RCMP for their efforts in co-ordinating with Atlanticade security.
Likewise, police state Atlanticade was uneventful.
Sgt. Greg MacAvoy of District 1 RCMP said they had no incidents at all over the weekend with Atlanticade participants. He added that police were very pleased at the level of cooperation and cordiality.
“I think things went very smoothly considering the large number of people in a small community like that. All of our members were treated very respectfully and I came out of it with a really positive impression.”
Even with an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 bikes in town he said there were no accidents and everybody, particularly the town crew and the Atlanticade volunteers, did a great job of managing the traffic.
“On Canada Day during the period of the parade there were some issues and some got backed up a little bit but I don’t think there were any big traffic issues. They seemed to be moving along pretty well other than when the parade was on.”
and officials with the Town of St. Andrews.
“Whatever we wanted, it happened. They were as interested in the event succeeding as we were.”
However, he also tipped his hat to the citizens of the region, particularly those in the businesses pressed to serve the influx of bikers.
“If the people aren’t willing to co-operate, and give 110 per cent … it’s not going to work.”
The net result, he argued, is a huge benefit to the tourism industry of this region.
“We exposed St. Andrews and the Charlotte County region that had never seen it before,” he said.
Prior to the event, Hicks typified the relationship between Charlotte County and Atlanticade as a blind date, because neither really knew what to expect.
Now, he said, there’s practically a full-on romance in the wings.
“I think they’re going to get asked for a second date.”
- With files from Barb Rayner
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