GREENE – A total of 238 bikes cruised down Genesee Street into downtown Greene on July 30 to participate in the village’s inaugural Bike Night. They came in such numbers, in fact, that they wildly exceeded even the event sponsors’ expectations. Those sponsors are hoping to build on the first event’s success, with their second Bike Night, planned for this Thursday.
“We had a great turnout,” said Enzo Olivieri from Nathanael Greene’s Publick House who, along with Barry Stephens of Tri-County Collision and Wes “Big Wally” VanVoorhies, organized the event. The same three men also sponsor the Greene Cruise In which has been drawing an increasing number of classic cars, street rods and automobiles, not to mention crowds of spectators, to the downtown district every other Thursday since they initiated the event last summer.
After they began the Cruise In, Olivieri said it didn’t take long to realize there was enough interest to warrant a similar event for motorcycles. Deciding to concentrate first on the bi-weekly classic car show before branching out, they held off on the bike idea for a year. But last month they decided they were ready.
After gauging interest, the men approached the village’s board of trustees for permission to hold a motorcycle event the last Thursday in July.
“They gave us an OK to do it,” Olivieri said, but they made it clear that the approval was for only the one event. Any future bike nights would have to be approved as well, and would be contingent on the success of the first.
Olivieri, Stephens and VanVoorhies began advertising the event on the radio. They also contacted Southern Tier Harley Davidson and visited Gilligan’s in Sherburne during their weekly bike event in an effort to let local bike enthusiasts know about the event.
Another group they contacted was the local chapter of the Red Knights Motorcycle Club. Founded last July, the group is comprised of more than 50 volunteer firefighters and emergency squad members from across Chenango and Broome counties.
From the response they received, they were expecting between 60 and 80 bikes, Olivieri reported. They ended up with more than three times that amount.
“We pulled a lot of people from all over,” he said. “It was fantastic.”
The organizers wanted to make sure that the event went off without a hitch and was as positive for the community as it was for the participants.
“They are very respectful,” Olivieri said, explaining that many motorcyclists are business owners, retirees and veterans. But he knew they would still be fighting the “biker” stereotype. To counter that, they decided to hand out flyers to each motorcycle rider as they pulled into town, letting them know what the expectations were for their behavior.
It worked. The event went so smoothly, that they not only received accolades from the village board about the first bike night, but permission to host a second as well.
Olivieri and his cohorts are hoping for an equal or greater turnout Thursday, as the downtown Bike Night kicks off once again. From 6 to 9 p.m., bikes will gather along Genesee Street where riders and spectators alike will enjoy music as well as contests, prizes, raffles and a Chinese auction.
There will also be a 50/50 to raise money for Greene’s Volunteer Fire Department. According to Olivieri, they raised approximately $2,000 for the department at last year’s Cruise Ins. This year, with several dates still on the calendar and the added Bike Nights, they are well on their way to exceeding that amount.
Olivieri and the other event organizers would like to see Bike Night become a regular monthly event. They would love to grow its success as they have the Cruise Ins, which last year routinely drew 60 or more street rods and classic cars the first and third Thursday of every month from June through the beginning of October. Now, according to Olivieri, they are getting an average of 120 classic cars for each event.
“We’ve definitely doubled,” the local business owner said. In fact, last month, they were forced to turn cars away because they just didn’t have enough space.
As event sponsors, Olivieri, Stephens and VanVoorhies pay for all the advertising and promotion for both the Cruise Ins and Bike Night. Why do they do it? Their goal, according to Olivieri, is to both bring the local community together and to attract people from outside the area to downtown Greene. Those visitors get a taste of what the small community has to offer, and often eat at local establishments and shop with local merchants while they are in town.