New group receiving opposition to proposed plan that would use
the Hollister Airport as the location for next year’s rally
Hollister – A proposal to relocate the city’s annual biker rally to the Hollister Municipal Airport is hitting some turbulence as many in the local aviation community say the plan is a poor fit for the airport.
Downtown Hollister had been the home of the Fourth of July motorcycle rally for nearly a decade before the City Council voted 3-1 last month to discontinue the Hollister Independence Rally Committee’s contract to organize the event – leaving the future of the rally uncertain. In the organization’s absence, former HIRC President Dave Ventura and his recently-formed group Ghostrider Promotions have stepped in with hopes of taking over the rally and moving it out of downtown – possibly to the airport.
The Airport Advisory Commission recommended against using the airport as a venue for the Hollister Independence Rally on Nov. 30 after Ventura proposed using the airport and partially closing one of its two runways to give vendors a place to set up.
The commission’s recommendation was based on concerns that planes often need to use the southwest runway, which would be closed under Ventura’s proposal, to land safely when afternoon crosswinds kick up. In addition to creating an issue for civilian planes, many fear that California Department of Forestry fire fighting planes would not be able to land on the airport’s northwest runway in a heavy crosswind.
“There’s a lot of opposition,” said Ed Owens, who rents a hangar at the airport and is president of the local Experimental Aircraft Association. “I probably think it’s a bad idea. It’s hard to envision how it would work.”
However, CDF Battalion Chief Paul Vlastelica said closing the southwest runway wouldn’t necessarily cause major problems for the department – as long as the crosswinds aren’t stronger than 23 mph.
“There is a possibility of the wind getting there, but it’s not the norm. The vast majority of summer winds don’t get that high,” he said. “The preliminary thing is if (the northwest runway) can remain open and it’s a typical summer day, we can continue to operate.”
Vlastelica said he plans to meet with Ventura in the near future to try to hammer out an arrangement for a rally at the airport that works for the CDF and Ghostrider.
