Thunder by the Bay
January in Sarasota. That time of year when a ton of motorcycles converge on our little city for Thunder by the Bay.
It’s all for the kids…
If it wasn’t for raising money for Suncoast Charities and for the local economic impact, this annual get together would probably be on a relocation program!!! 362 days a year, downtown caters to the condo dwellers and those with the bucks to shop at Whole foods and the various specialty shops. To get a sense of Sarasota, I was chatting with a friend who attended the pre festival meetings with the commission and shop owners. She told me about a retailer whose main complaint was the smell of onions from food vendors drifting in her shop (oh my). The downtown shop owners along with the condo dwellers hold a lot of power but not enough to squelch this party. I myself love the smell of sautéed onions… mingle that with stale beer … Mmmm. Almost heaven!
Come to think of it… we were re-located this year (was it the onions?) ! Previous years had the vendors and bands set up closer to the middle of town, except for the year they crammed us all into Payne Park. Not being one who likes crowds or change, found this years set up pleasing. The bike show was moved from 5 points park and set up along Palm Avenue. Palm Ave has some benches and you get a nice view of the parking garage. The shot above was taken Sunday morning. That is the Jagermeister stage down the way. It promised to be a beautiful day and barely anyone was stirring as I made my way around town…
except this guy. Bob Poneleit of Hap’s Cycle Sales. Like I said, Palm Ave still has some benches and Big Al (Bob) was taking advantage of one, sucking down some coffee before the bikes started rolling in for the show. Hap’s is a Sarasota tradition. A family owned and operated business full of true motorcycle enthusiasts. They are extremely active in the community raising funds and awareness for a bunch of different charities. They were voted “best place to buy a motorcycle in 2011 and if I didn’t ride a Harley and have a fix it guy all my own, I would give Hap’s my business.
Later on Sunday afternoon, Come Back Alice took the Jagermeister stage and rocked the house. This is the beautiful and talented Dani Jaye.
On to the bike show. Thanks to Manatee River Harley Davidson who did the work and alot of elbow grease, Bob took first place in the sport custom cruiser class.
Before closing I want to call attention to the little red and black bobber in the slideshow. Earlier I said I had a fix-it guy all my own, he’s also one hell of a bike builder. Congratulations to Tim and all the others who put their time and talent into building some pretty machines.
Check out some of the pics. If ya happen to know the names of any of the people, take a sec and contact me. I like to add names to faces. Prints are also available.
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