No one is sure how many motorcycle enthusiasts will roar into
Hollister this weekend for what many are calling the unofficial
rally
Hollister – Vendors were busy unloading their wares in downtown Hollister Wednesday afternoon in anticipation of the biker horde that many expect will descend upon the city this weekend despite the City Council’s decision earlier this year to cancel the Hollister Independence Rally for 2006.
“We don’t even know if anyone is going to come,” said a man, who declined to give his name, unloading boxes of T-shirts, leathers and other motorcycle gear from a truck. The company’s tent, a staple during past rally weekends, was put up Tuesday in the vacant lot next to Metropolis on San Benito Street. At least two other vendor tents have been set up throughout the downtown area, but still, no one knows how many bikers are planning to thunder into town this year.
Dave Ventura – former president of the Hollister Independence Rally Committee that organized the rally for nearly a decade – was on San Benito Street Wednesday watching vendors set up for the “unofficial rally.” He estimates that about 20,000 bikers will stop in Hollister over the course of the weekend. Others have predicted as many as 50,000 and as few as 10,000.
“There will be more bikers than cops,” he said. “And there will be enough bikers to keep the cops busy.”
Last year, the city-sanctioned 2005 Hollister Independence Rally drew about 120,000 people over three days. During past events, several downtown streets were closed, hundreds of vendors hocked their wares and there was a variety of live music, contests and shows. Motorcyclists were permitted to park their beloved bikes up and down San Benito Street.
This time around, the streets will remain open, parking regulations will be enforced and attendees at the unofficial rally will have little to do but drink in local bars. The City Council voted 3-2 in February to cancel the annual rally, which has been the city’s signature event since 1997. The roots of the rally stretch back to Fourth of July in 1947 when Hollister gained national attention after a couple thousand motorcycle enthusiasts rampaged the city – driving into bars and ignoring local police. While many of the news reports from that first unofficial rally have been found to be exaggerated, it was that event that forever branded Hollister as, “The birthplace of the American biker.”
When it voted to cancel the 2006 rally, the majority on the council cited financial concerns. Hollister was stuck with a $250,000 public safety bill after last year’s event. While money was the main motivation in the decision to cancel the rally, council members said that they were also concerned about safety after a near clash between the Hell’s Angels and Mongols motorcycle clubs at the 2005 event.
For the last four months, law enforcement agencies throughout the Central Coast region have been honing plans to work with the Hollister Police Department during the rally weekend, said Chief Jeff Miller, who doesn’t know how many bikers are coming and he isn’t saying how many police officers are coming.
“We’ll have a great number of officers in the downtown area and an extraordinary presence from the California Highway Patrol,” Miller said. “Welcome to Hollister, follow the rules and obey the laws.”
