Gettysburg Bike Week 2005 was held July 7-10; with more than 20,000 attendees and 10,000 bikes, it may quickly become a show that many motorcyclists plan to attend the same that they do Daytona, Sturgis, and Laconia.

Similar to these aforementioned larger rallies, Gettysburg splits the activities taking place into multiple venues - Battlefield Harley Davidson and the Allstar Events Complex. Battlefield is the largest dealership in this area, and they accommodate the thousands of bikes that roll into their parking lot like it’s nothing more than a Fireman's Parade. They give all the attendees that come out a place to sit down, shoot some pool, and take a break. The clubs and benefit-type organizations that set up tents are helpful and informative in what they are trying to do for the motorcycle community. It’s interesting that if you actually take the time to talk to these volunteers, you can find out how much they are doing that you may not realize.

Out at the Allstar Complex, there were many activities taking place through the weekend, including a burnout contest, poker run, a parade throughout Battlefield country and into town, and bands playing live. And, of course, there is the nude wet t-shirt contest that always takes place on Saturday evening, followed by a great fireworks display.

Last year was our first year attending Gettysburg, when the show happened to be part of Discovery channels’ Biker Buildoff. Of course that type of publicity tends to draw more vendors to an event, but we were shocked at the complete lack of vendors at the Allstar Complex this year. Savage Cycles, DC Cruisers, and one or two other builders showed up, but there wasn’t a lot of custom work to see.

Later in the evening, our disappointment with the show grew. During the “lets get drunk during the day and then take off all our clothes on stage” show (aka, the wet t-shirt contest), the volunteers running that portion of the event at the Allstar Complex proved how much of a lack of respect that they had for photographers trying to bring the show into the homes of attendees that couldn’t make it. I’m not going to go into details regarding everything that went down - Pudge tells me I just sound like a bitter person then! - but I won’t be surprised when attendance starts to fall in the future when the poor attitudes spread to volunteers that deal with the attendees.

Anyways, I’m off of my soap box now, and definitely looking forward to checking out Battlefield Harley Davidson next year during Bike Week - July 6-9. More details will be available closer to the show at www.battlefieldharleydavidson. com.