Businesses share mixed outlook on future of Grand Strand motorcycle rally

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SURFSIDE BEACH—The numbers of vendors and bikers both appeared to be down significantly from the busiest years of the Spring Harley Davidson Rally on the Grand Strand.

Many of the bikers who came to the rally have already gone home.

Whether they come back for future bike weeks depends on which business owner you ask.

Stephen Dority says he made more money working as a vendor outside the popular biker spot Suck Bang Blow in Murrells Inlet this year than he made last year.

“The trail of a chosen few isn’t going to keep people from coming down here. It’s going to come back. The rules that were imposed last year scared everybody away at first. People are now adjusting to it and oddly enough, they kind of like the changes because they get out of traffic, ride on some other roads, they cool off, and then they get back in traffic,” said Dority.

Jamin’ Leather in Surfside Beach stays open year-round.

Owner “Jamin’” Jamie Keats says the bikers came out, but he’s not sure if they’ll spend as much money as they used to.

“It seems to be that they came in, they had a lot of fun, and they were spending a little bit of money, I mean there was probably a similar quantity of buyers but they were not spending the large dollar amounts,” said Keats.

Keats says his business is down half-a-million dollars a year over the past two years, making it tough to stay open.

Even with business down, and fewer vendors and bikers, business owners and vendors we spoke to still say the event will remain in-tact to some degree.

“I think it’s just going to stay as a segregated type of areas that will work well for the rally,” said Keats.

“You’re not going to replace it if you move it to North Carolina or the talks of moving it elsewhere,” said Dority.

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