This weekend, mini-celebrities Kyle and Cody Ives were at Frank Brown Park showing off their skills flying their freestyle motorcross bikes 35 feet in the air over a 65 foot gap. Kyle and Cody’s family was recently on Wife Swap and will be featured on a reality TV show that will be aired on Cartoon Network next fall.
Cody, 16 has been riding since he was a kid and his brother, 15 has been riding since he was 3.
The weeks leading up to Thunder Beach weekend I listened to and was inadvertently absorbed into spirited debates about the chromed-out 3 day event. Some people love it, waxed their bikes, strapped on the chaps and venue-hopped all weekend. Others loathed it, cursed it from their cars as group rides roared by them and spent the weekend avoiding the outdoors. It is, like Spring Break, a very polarizing event to say the least.
But as I attended a venue at Frank Brown Park, the air smelling of BBQ pork and exhaust pipe, chrome glinting in the sun, I found myself siding with the bikers and the pro-Thunder Beach gang. Yes, the event brings money to Panama City Beach and economically covers a seasonal dip in our tourism, but none of those things swayed me. There were a few things I noticed at Frank Brown. First, I noticed some of the most hardcore bikers, men that looked like they ate meat raw, as giddy as teenagers. Leather clad folks walked the Frank Brown Park grounds in high-spirits; no screaming and no fighting, just bike lovers enjoying bikes. I also noticed an atypical sense of camaraderie. Strangers sat together to discuss engine types, drifters perused vendor stations asking questions and buying merchandise. None of this seemed remotely “spring-break-ish” to me.
But what I found the most astonishing was the cleanliness. There was little trash anywhere; the place was virtually spotless. On our beach this weekend we endured thousands of bikers, hundreds of thousands of cases of beer and water bottles but I challenge you to show me a parking lot that looked anything like the post-Lil Wayne concert landfill. I scratched my head and wondered, other than the noise, what’s makes some Panama City Beach residents loathe thunder beach? The answer didn’t come to me until I ventured over to Pier Park to watch the Harley Davidson Drill Team.
Pier Park was packed with people all over the place; the venue really seemed to have a lot going on. After the drill team’s awesome bike safety show, I walked over to the bike showcase to get a sense of the crowd, which, different than the Frank Brown park crowd, consisted mostly of families. By the dozens, babies in strollers gawked at bikes along with their parents, fathers, with proud arms draped around their sons, used the venue to teach their boys about the artistry behind bike design.
Watching the crowds, I thought, this is what Thunder Beach is supposed to be. But then, while I snapped shots of antique roadsters, a woman walked up wearing a bikini that covered the bare minimum of her triple X parts. Mind you, this all happened 5 steps from a carousel filled with children. Families pulled their kids away and the mood, which had been a mellow excitement, mutated into something far less wholesome. At that moment I realized what all the fuss was about.
Thunder Beach has two very distinct personalities. For the majority of the Thunder Beach crowd it’s all about good clean fun. But for every 25 fun-loving bikers, there’s 1 who will make all the others look bad–real bad. Throughout the week I saw things like the Kevin Kight memorial parade where 1,000 riders paid tribute to one of our city’s fallen heroes. I followed the Thunder Beach tweets which boasted updates about the real fun being had all over the beach. At the same time, I listened to stories from residents whose babies were thrown out of sleep by a bike tearing through a residential street and a mother in a kid-stuffed mini-van being berated with profanities for a simple merging mistake (Sorry Ash). If you don’t believe me you should read some of the comments on my last Thunder Beach post. Both sides have valid arguments, but what’s the solution?
Truly, there is no solution, but perhaps there is a middle ground. Frankly, I thought this year was one of the best the city has experienced. Droves of people and business hit Panama City Beach during a seasonal tourism drought. Most venues were classy, exciting and people really had an awesome time. I wouldn’t change anything about how well Thunder Beach Productions and other private organizers handled a very successful event. Not everyone’s experience with the event was as good as mine and for the people of our city to welcome bikers, compromises have to be made. Here are a few ideas I thought up.
1. Tighten up the venues. There was so much going on so many different places all over the beach that can cause an inconvenience. Acknowledging how important it is to involve business as well as provide bikers a chance to “ride” from place to place, one less venue could mean even better organization.
2. Restrict residential streets. I don’t want to go all “Myrtle” on the bikers because they are welcomed here, but certain residential roads shouldn’t have to endure bikers at 2am. I don’t know how or if this is even possible, but it should be considered.
3.Post safety and warning signs. Sometimes people just don’t know what you stand for or don’t condone if you don’t tell them. Post signs during the weekend to ask bikers to be have fun, be safe and show courtesy. “Be Nice…I’m Local” should do the trick.
In the end, I have to say kudos to everyone involved in a great event. The stunt bikes at Frank Brown Park were amazing and the bands, oh the bands, tore stages up all over the beach. Although, I believe the bickering between residents and Thunder Beach is ongoing, one thing is for sure, whether you love it or hate it, they put on one heck of a show. Huge shout out to Corky over at Thunder Beach Productions, great job and thanks for everything.
I’m curious to hear what ideas other people have come up with. What are your Thunder Beach experiences and would you change anything about it? Post your comments here.
Be sure to check out our Thunder Beach Videos at YouTube.com/pcbdaily
You know, I’ve been trying to remain positive among all the noise dealing with the “biker” mentality. I know they bring a lot of money into our area and they are great for local businesses, no matter what you say. I talked to a friend that has his hands in several resorts and said that over this weekend, many of his properties are rented 100% and the others are in the 80’s and 90’s. But I digress.
I just want to share an experience with everyone and hopefully a few bikers will read it and share it with their friends. This experience was not pleasant, and unfortunately (or thankfully for the bikers) I was not present when it happened, but it really hit close to home and severely affected my tone and attitude towards the “biker-crowd” this weekend. As my wife recounted her experience, almost being brought to tears, my blood boiled. I grew angrier than I had been in a long time, and I angered more at the fact that there was nothing I could do about it. Being a follower of Christ, I do pretty good at turning the other cheek when it’s just me involved, but bring my family into it? And the story changes.
As my wife was traveling down Back Beach Road Friday, after going through the intersection of the newly renamed R Jackson Blvd, she had passed through the intersection in the far right “passing” lane. With her turn-signal on, she patiently waited for an open spot in the center lane as her lane was quickly ending. I emphasize the word patient, because she is patient, I am not. She found a hole, (or so she’d thought) and merged in. Of course, being Thunder Beach, there were bikers everywhere, and she happened to have pulled in front of several that were non-to-happy about it.
At this point, she being in the right lane, one of the bikers went up the right side of her mini-van and another sped past her on her left side. They pulled in front of her and slammed on their brakes. “I thought I was going to hit them,” she said, “two bikers with no helmets slammed on their brakes in front of me, I thought I was going to hit them.” They slowed her and the traffic behind her to 20 mph on Back Beach Road.
After a few minutes, she changed lanes to go around them, and they cut her off, preventing her from passing. Of course, at this point, she honked only to be rebutted with the middle finger the two bikers in front of her. They then slowed even more, went to the side of her mini-van and began yelling profanities, with MY kids in the car.
Of course, at this time in the story, she’s almost crying. “I was scared, I had my kids in the car, it was like I was in the movies, I couldn’t believe this was happening, they were yelling at me, saying bad words, my kids could here it and were scared, I’m a mom in a mini-van, how big could this make them feel?” Good question, how big could this make them feel, yelling at a mom in a mini-van with three kids in the car traveling down Back Beach Road.
Could she had made a better decision in her merging into traffic? Sure, we can always find fault in what we do in order to have a different outcome. But, what gave the right to those bikers to harass a mom in a mini-van with kids. So someone pulls in front of you, and you don’t like it, do you pull up next to her and yell profanities to her and her children? Does that make you feel all big and tough? If you read this, if you are the one that did this and you read this, you are a coward. You are not welcome in Panama City Beach again. You can keep your money. Rude bikers are not welcome here.
When you come to Panama City Beach, we don’t owe you anything because you pump life into our economy for 3 lousy days. This is our town, we live here. You can’ t expect everyone to make sacrifices because of you. Everyone is watching you, and if you don’t play nice, you’re going to hack off the wrong people, and at some point, you won’t be welcome here anymore either.
We can have a pieceful coexistence. We do enjoy the business and the money you bring our area, but if you are going to act like a bunch of jerks while you’re here, then don’t come back.
May 1 – Downtown Festival Of the Arts & Friday Fest
If you want to avoid the Thunder on Panama City Beach, but still want to get out over the weekend and have a good time, head to downtown Panama City and enjoy the Downtown Festival of the Arts. This historic arts event, hosted by the Visual Arts Center and the Panama City Downtown Improvement Board, gathers artists from all over the southeast for a fine arts juried exhibition and sale.
Supporting artists and arts education, for 40 years this event has been hosts to artists the first weekend of May. Proceeds from this event will help support the various education programs the Visual Arts Center offers to the region.
The first Spring Festival of the Arts was held on March 29, 1968 at McKenzie Park for one day only and raised $450. The original focus of the festival was to introduce art to the children in our community. It has now grown into a 3-day event and raised over $23,000 in the year 2006.
Spring Festival is held the first weekend of May each year. An early shopping opportunity is held Friday night and includes a silent auction. Then Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 5 pm there is shopping, entertainment, and free art activities for children. P.C. Juniors host more than 100 artists as well as numerous food vendors. P.C. Juniors will also host the Children’s Art Experience with FREE art projects for children to make, enjoy and take home. The Children’s Art Market, full of art donated by the artists, will have items priced at $5 or less and P.C. Juniors donates all proceeds from the Festival of the Arts to local charities and community projects.
The event will be held starting May 1st through May 3rd at McKenzie Park on Harrison Avenue. For more information on the event please call (850) 769-4451.
Thunder Beach is here again and this rally is expected to be larger than ever. Every rally, I’m always amazed at how crazy some of the bikers that come visit our area look and how unusual looking some of their bikes are. So this year, we’ve decided to launch a contest, and we’re giving stuff away! I can’t wait.
So, here’s all the details.
Each day of Thunder Beach, starting Thursday, Cebo and I will be out and about shooting video and interviewing the most zaney, crazy and unusually dressed bikers on the beach. We’ll be getting the inside scoop as to exactly what attracts them to their apparel antics, what they are wanting to accomplish by dressing that way, and hopefully not get beat up while doing it.
At the end of each day, we’ll upload the videos for display right here on pcbdaily for all to view asking everyone to cast their vote in the comments section. In addition, the videos will be uploaded to our Facebook Fan page, so you can participate there as well.
So, if you’ll be in town, and you have an unusual style of biker-dress, shoot us an email and we’ll set up a time to meet. Otherwise, we’ll see you at the venues!
Click here if you want to receive notification by email whenever a new video is posted.
Here’s what we’re giving away.
1st-place Prize: Flip MinoHD – a mini camcorder that captures BIG action, in full 1280×720 HD resolution. The MinoHD weighs in at just over 3.3 oz’s and measures only 2 by 4 inches. This if perfect is you want to capture big video on a camera that fits in your pocket. Our staff has one and loves it. One of the coolest things about this camera is that uploading to YouTube is as easy as plugging the camera flip-out usb drive into your computer. Retails at $229.00. Sponsored by SeePCB.com. SeePCB.com is a new web site that our company, Too Creative, is launching to fill in the “blog-gap” in our area about information all about Panama City Beach. SeePCB is the ONLY way to See Panama City Beach online. SeePCB.com is everything PCBDaily can’t be providing full written experiences of what it’s like to come to Panama City Beach. www.SeePCB.com
2nd-place Prize: $70 Gift Certificate to Solace Day Spa in Pier Park – Well, actually, this was intended to be a $50 gift card, but they are offering a $20 gift card free to all that receive treatment there, so, they gave us permission to use that in conjuction with the $50 gift card they contributed bringing this prizes value to $70. With that amount, you can buy a 60 minute Elemental Nature™ Massage that includes a “personalized massage experience based upon the Aveda Elemental Nature philosophy and your favorite Aveda plant based aromas.”
3rd-place Prize: $25 Gift Certificate to Hofbrau Beer Garden – Hofbrau Beer Garden, located in Pier Park in Panama City Beach is our area’s only authentic German Beer Garden. Bringing Munich to the beach the “beer garden”, as it’s be come to be known serves authentic Bavarian dishes such as Schnitzel Wiener Art and Rouladen. Of course, you can’t forget their authentic German beer imported fresh by the keg including the Original, the Dunkel and the Weißbier.
We’ll see you at Thunder Beach!
If you’ve been aching to don that new leather vest and harness boots, ache no more. On April 30th Panama City Beach shall rumble, heralding the return of the Thunder Beach Spring Rally. From end to end, families, riders, celebrities, artists and some of the most spectacular bikes in the world will cover the beach.
Regarded by many as the “most biker friendly free rally in the United States”, the Thunder Beach Motorcycle Rally is always a big event. But this year’s event may be the best and biggest Panama City Beach has ever experienced and Myrtle Beach may have a lot to do with it.
As many of you know, Myrtle Beach is Panama City Beach’s largest competition when it comes to bikers and rallies. But by the looks of recent law changes, they might be getting out of the business. Recently, a 3 million dollar property tax increase was passed in Myrtle Beach to fund anti-rally efforts. That’s not the half of it. Myrtle Beach has also added new laws declaring unpermitted rallies and events to be public nuisances, created a midnight curfew, closed bars at 2 am, required all motorcyclists to wear helmets (not a requirement under state law), towing and impounding all motorcycles that do not meet noise standards, checkpoints where motorcycles will be monitored for noise, and traffic diversion such as barriers and closed streets. So what does all this mean? Basically, it means a bigger rally for Panama City Beach, and I’m sure the local businesses will take it.
“We’re definitely expecting huge turnout this year.” Says Corky McCollum, A Thunder Beach Productions coordinator. “We’ve got bigger events, more venues and the total numbers of vendors have increased considerably.”
The schedule for bike week is substantial and the venues cover the entire beach. The list of venues include, Shoppes at Edgewater, Club La Vela, Sandpiper Beacon, Boardwalk Beach Resort, Sharky’s, Pier Park, Rockit Lanes and Frank Brown Park.
And the events this year are family-friendly. There will be demos all over the beach particularly the Harley Davidson Drill Team at Pier Park. They’ll be teaching and doing all sorts of stunts. If that doesn’t make you want to jump into your chaps, at Club La Vela, Speed Channel’s Jay Barbieri, host of American Thunder, will be hosting a televised “Build Off” allowing two bikers to pick any parts from their accessory demo rig to amp-up their bikes. Suckerpunch Sally, an old-school bike manufacturer will be giving away one of its beautiful custom bikes during a VIP party at Ebro Greyhound Park. At Frank Brown Park X-game enthusiasts can witness firsthand the amazing jumps seen on television as stunt bikers hit ramps and the “Ball of Death”. Live bands will be playing at all the venues. Everyone is welcome to come out to enjoy the events and, if nothing else, gawk at some amazing bikes.
Without doubt, the Thunder Beach Spring Rally is expected to be a success. So I guess, if things go as planned, we should all head to Hallmark, get a nice big thank you card and send it to Myrtle Beach. I’ll be the first to sign it.
The next three weeks on Panama City Beach should be awesome.
For years PCB’s tourism paradox, which is the last three weeks of April, has bewildered businesses all around the beach. After the Spring Break season is over and before the summer season crowds the shores, there has always existed a perennial lag. During this time hotels are still operating at full staff, so are the restaurants and attractions when, frankly, business has slowed enough to validate a winter-like hibernation. There just isn’t a season and no reason for people to visit the beach.
Well that was then and fun is now.
The TDC and private sectors have put together a string of events for the next three weeks that will keep our beach so packed it should provide a seamless segueway into summer.
This is what’s coming up on Panama City Beach:
April 17 – 19th – The 11th Annual Zap Pro/Am Skim Jam
April 16 – 19th – Seabreeze Jazz Festival
April 22 – 25th – The 11th annual Gulf Coast Charity Horse Show and Music Festival
April 30 – May 3rd – Thunder Beach Spring Rally
I hope the beach is ready because these upcoming events are bound to have the beach rocking. In fact, most accommodations around Pier Park are already sold out while others are starting to see the benefits of the efforts. If you’re a vacationer, now is the time to get your best value on accommodations and dining. If you’re a resident you should definitely get out while the weather’s great and traffic is loose to enjoy the activities.
This post is somewhat of a tip-of-the-hat to everyone who put in the effort to keep the business flowing on the beach. If we keep this up before you know it we’ll have a whole new season. Question is, what should we call it? Any suggestions?
Special events at the beach are wonderful for Bay County. The biggest events, Spring Break and Thunder Beach, drive huge amounts of tourists to Panama City Beach.
Smaller events bring in good revenue for the bed tax collectors (and beneficiaries), such as the Ironman and Gulf Coast Triathlons, Emerald Coast Cruizin’ car show, and hopefully, the new Panama City Beach Seafood, Wine, & Music Festival.
There are a few other small events, but we need many more small and large in order for the tourism economy to thrive year-round. It is — and should be — a top priority for the TDC/CVB to enable and promote special events.
But with special events come special interests, and special interests have no place in our government spending decisions.
Therefore, in order for the TDC to be fair to all event planners, promoters, the bed tax collectors (and beneficiaries), and the citizens of Bay County, they must avoid any conflict of special interests.
Here are a few ways to make this happen:
1. Put bed tax dollars into infrastructure that holds special events, such as stages, fairgrounds, parking lots, ball fields and other outdoor venues. Make it a great place for a promoter to put on an event and succeed.
2. Provide additional support for safety and trash-control during events.
3. Maintain infrastructure.
4. Instead of paying to promote events to tourists, promote Panama City Beach to potential event promoters.
5. Provide marketing research staff to survey event attendees. This tells the individual businesses which events bring what tourists, and helps them do their own marketing/advertising/event sponsorships accordingly.
6. Provide Public Relations support and website exposure for all events.
There! Good! No complaints from anyone.
Hopefully bed tax collectors will agree there needs to be a new policy. But whether you do or not, here are some clear examples of what has happened recently to prove why it is unwise for the TDC to put funding into promoters’ pockets.
1. There is a process in place that a promoter must go through to be considered for TDC event funding. As pointed out in recent PCBDaily.com articles, that policy has not been followed. Therefore, it’s unfair to some, very fair to others and no fair to the rest of us.
2. The promoters are sometimes more shifty than thrifty. Some claim they don’t need TDC money, then get it anyway. Some disappear. Some make promises they have no intention of keeping. It’s no fun watching – or participating in – a government body that must make spending decisions on people / events that really do not have to be accountable.
3. Events can fail. The Circus by the Sea proposal was unique in that they approached the TDC for a $100K “loan” that would be paid back upon success. Most everyone on the TDC and in the business community, including myself, was certain the circus would be a success. Unfortunately it was not. That money is gone, unless the Circus by the Sea miraculously figures out how to market its event and fill its tent. We would have been better off buying 100,000 Lotto tickets.
Hey… Lotto Tickets with Bed Tax Dollars! Not a bad idea compared to the way Special Event money has been handed out lately.
– Event Expected to Draw Thousands of Thunder Beach Motorcycle Enthusiasts as Additional Stores at Pier Park Open –
PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL (May 1, 2008) – Pier Park, Panama City Beach’s premiere retail, dining and entertainment venue located on 93 acres that covers land from Front Beach Road (at the City Pier) to heavily traveled Highway 98 (Back Beach Road) is pleased to announce it’s first annual ‘Fun in the Sun’ Street Fair, May 1 -4, which will coincide with the semi-annual Thunder Beach Motorcycle Rally and the opening of approximately 30 new stores at Pier Park.
Billed as “The Most Biker Friendly Free Rally in the United States,” the Thunder Beach Motorcycle Rally is truly a community event and as the area’s newest attraction, Pier Park is anxious to be a part of the Spring 2008 Rally!
Continue reading “Pier Park to Host 'Fun in the Sun' Street Fair This Weekend”
PCBDaily 