One of the largest motorcycle rallies in the United States kicks off in less than two weeks in Lake George. In the shadow of a huge biker brawl that killed nine in Waco, Texas, organizers of Americade are dispelling worries over safety.
For 33 years, Lake George has kicked off its summer tourist season with an event that now draws tens of thousands of motorcyclists and visitors to the lakeside community.
Americade boasts what it calls the world’s largest touring expo, stunt shows, demo rides and other events.
Lake George mayor Bob Blais says the village expects between 50,000 and 60,000 bikes to roll in. Blais says the village, town, and county work together to make for a safe weekend.
“We actually set up an additional traffic signal that’s operated manually on our main street. We put on extra peace officers for the week. The sheriff triples his staff. Just about everyone has to work and work overtime.”
Safety is on the minds of many after the deadly fighting between rival biker gangs at a meeting May 17 in Waco, Texas.
Americade founder Bill Dutcher said the weeklong event occurs year after year without similar incidents because the event organizers work well with local authorities.
“Every element of this community because, heck, they’ve had 33 years to work off the rough spots. That’s where events have problems – when they’re and they’re growing very, very fast. Major things happen. But after several decades of doing this, there are very few surprises.”
Dutcher recalled originally pitching the idea of Americade – then called Aspencade – to Blais. Dutcher said the mayor had some initial concerns after a brawl at the former Tops bar years before.
“So he was a little, initially apprehensive. Then I showed him what we were talking about and the people that tended to come to the event and he got behind it. And indeed, things worked out very, very well and have stayed in great shape ever since. We simply don’t have the issues that that whole Waco thing was about. And the community knows it.”
Blais backed Dutcher up, saying the event attracts mainly touring cyclists.
“The touring motorcycle group which represents the majority of the people at Americade are very well-behaved and in fact they kind of resent the image that these other folks put forth and they tend not to mix together.”
Blais said when Americade coincides with another biker event in New Hampshire, typically on Friday and Saturday nights, there is an influx of what he called “loud bikes.”
“We do get an influx of a lot of those, but as I say, we put a lot of police on the street. There’s a great presence there, and we have never had any problems with the Americaders.”
Americade runs from June 1st through 8th.
