I'm still not sure whether Bikes, Blues & BBQ, the massive motorcycle rally hosted in Fayetteville since 2000, is permanently departing for Rogers or making a temporary shift.
My message left with the executive director on Thursday wasn't returned by late Friday. And I'm not sure he knows for sure, anyway, even though he told a Democrat-Gazette reporter he imagined the move would also be for subsequent years. He also said, "Nothing is forever."
It was a given that over the next couple of years, construction on Fayetteville's arts corridor/civic space project and parking deck would make it impossible for rally organizers to put their main stage in the Dickson Street entertainment district. Still, Mayor Lioneld Jordan told me the rally's relocation of the main stage to Rogers was a surprise. He said he learned of it when the public announcement was made.
My first reaction was that Fayetteville seemed to shrug at the news. Yes, the city's residents have a love-hate relationship with the rally. It's noisy and congested for four days a year. But the experts up at the University of Arkansas' Center for Business and Economic Research said several years ago their study showed the rally, which brings a few hundred thousand enthusiasts on their motorcycles to the region, had a $69 million economic impact each year.
Trading four days of the year for that kind of impact seems tolerable to me. I wouldn't think any town would eagerly give that up. Towns all over Arkansas hold festivals, and try to conjure up more, because they bring spending visitors. Bikes, Blues & BBQ has been one of the most successful festivals in the state.
Steve Clark, Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce president and a member of the nonprofit rally's board, told our reporter he didn't view the move as a loss to Fayetteville, just an acknowledgement that the rally has become regional in nature.
Meanwhile, Raymond Burns, president of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce, touted Rogers as "uniquely qualified" to host the event and said his organization worked to draw the event northward.
I think Burns knows being the host city, where the primary events are, matters in terms of economic impact.
Fayetteville, in planning for its new civic space at Dickson Street and West Avenue, has worked with Bikes, Blues & BBQ to design spaces along West Avenue for vendors' use. Sure, that applies to any event, but there was a concern with making sure the motorcycle rally could be accommodated.
"I'm building facilities with the idea that they'll come back," Jordan said Friday. "The long and short of it is I'm looking for Bikes, Blues & BBQ to come back, and I hope they do."
Regardless of host city status, Jordan said Fayetteville will be far from motorcycle-free during the Oct. 5-8 rally.
"To say my entertainment district isn't going to have motorcycles on it, you know better than that," Jordan said.
Dickson Street, with its live music and bars, will be an attractive destination for riders. But if the rally's big musical performances are elsewhere, that will be a strong pull for rally-goers. Naturally, that's where the rally will devote the content of its marketing messages.
After construction on Fayetteville's arts corridor and civic space, will the rally be drawn back to Fayetteville? Will critics of the rally convince Fayetteville not to even try because of the noise, leaving Fayetteville promoters to try to drum up something else with as much impact? What will that be -- a mural painting festival? A Subaru rally?
I'm not disparaging any such notions, but it makes a lot of sense to try to keep the $60 million-plus economic event that exists than to think it's easy to make lightning strike twice.