A five-day motorcycle rally in Panama City Beach is back on schedule, despite concerns about large gatherings leading to a cascade of new coronavirus infections.
“The last thing we want is a super-spreader situation,” said City Manager Tony O’Rourke, who approved on Tuesday a permit for the fall Thunder Beach Motorcycle Rally, which is scheduled to take place Oct. 21 - 25.
O’Rourke says the permit includes one key caveat: “All vendors, staff and patrons of the event must be wearing facial coverings or masks.”
In August, hundreds became infected with COVID-19 after attending a massive motorcycle rally in South Dakota, leading to a rise in cases across multiple states. Local news outlet KHOU 11 captured footage from that event, showing rally-goers who weren't wearing masks clustered together in the small downtown area.
“The event did have a profound impact not only to Sturgis and the surrounding areas, but also to the surrounding states,” O’Rourke said.
Last month, O’Rourke denied rally organizers a special event permit, citing concerns about a potential outbreak of coronavirus infections. Event organizers didn’t appeal that decision. After Gov. DeSantis signed an executive order moving the state into its final stage of reopening, they reapplied for a permit.
O’Rourke says he approved their second permit application because the rate of local infections has declined over the last few weeks. But many states have seen a spike in new cases. That's why the city is requiring rally-goers to wear masks at all outdoor event venues, he said.
"We need to look at this event in the context of people coming from outside the state of Florida and Bay County," O'Rourke said. "There has to be a vigilance to keep COVID case loads low and hospitalizations low."
Riders won’t have to wear masks inside bars and restaurants that don’t already have their own mask requirement. The city doesn't have a mask ordinance.
In their second permit application, event organizers offered to require staff to wear masks but not attendees, O'Rourke said. If a lot of people refuse to comply and organizers fail to correct the violations, the city will shut down the event, he said.
"We’ll certainly be monitoring these locations for compliance."
As president of Thunder Beach Productions, Joe Biggs organizes the rally. He says he thinks most riders will wear masks, but he expects some people won’t.
“That is going to be difficult to deal with,” he said. “I’m not going to hire a bunch of 300-pound guys to pull people out of the venue if they don’t have a mask on.”
But he says the mask requirement is reasonable, especially because many of the riders are middle-aged. “And probably a lot of them are the very demographic that needs to be the most concerned.”
Event staff will offer people free masks, and all rally venues will include hand-washing stations. Organizers will also post signs encouraging people to practice social distancing and to wear a mask, Biggs said. "Hopefully, the vast majority of people will."
With less time to promote the event and secure additional vendors, Biggs says, he’s expecting a much smaller turnout at this year’s fall rally. “Normally we have six months to promote an event,” he said. “Now we’ve got two weeks.”
There are also fewer events scheduled. Three outdoor concerts, a pageant and a kickoff party have all been cancelled. “We normally do a stunt show, a jump show, at Frank Brown Park multiple times during the day. We’re not going to do that this time, either,” Biggs said. “Everything that would attract a crowd into one place at one time, we’re not going to do.”
Instead, Biggs says, they’re working to get as many vendors as they can to set up display booths. The rally will also include the Best of Thunder Beach Bike Show, motorcycle displays and a tattoo contest. “We may have some poker runs,” Biggs said.
Biggs says even after the rally had been cancelled, hundreds of riders notified him of their plans to travel to the beach anyway that week. With the event back on schedule, riders will have a more-structured rally.
“Having the event is going to be a safer situation than not having it because we provide a place for riders to go during the day,” Biggs said. “Everything is outside.”
