Home | Thunder By the Bay revs up for year 14

Thunder By the Bay revs up for year 14

By , Herald-Tribune
/

(Visit the Ticket photo booth at the Downtown Festival, noon-6p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, to get your picture taken. The pics will be posted as they're taken in our Thunder By The Bay gallery on the Photo Gallery page.)

A hurricane of leather, fringe and chrome is veering toward Sarasota this weekend, so listen for the roar of revving engines.

It’s the 14th annual Thunder By the Bay motorcycle fest and it’s hitting venues throughout Sarasota from Friday to Sunday (Jan. 6-8).

About 30,000 bike and music lovers attend each year, bringing a $6-million economic impact to the city. More than $800,000 has been raised since the event’s inception, and proceeds benefit the Suncoast Charities for Children organization, which has been assisting children with special needs since 1985.

“It’s a great event for a great cause, so if you haven’t seen us yet, you need to come check us out,” said Lucy Nicandri, vice president of Suncoast Charities for Children and the festival director. “You don’t have to be a motorcyclist. You don’t even have to like motorcycles. You can just listen to great music and eat. There’s plenty for everybody.”

The soiree launches on Friday with a “Born to Be Wild” kick-off party at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota with casino-style gaming, live entertainment by the Billy Rice Band and a silent auction.

On Saturday is “Dealer Day” with cash giveaways at Rossiter’s Harley-Davidson, Manatee River Harley-Davidson, Hap’s Cycle Sales and Sarasota Ford.

There will be an open-air festival on Saturday and Sunday along Main Street in downtown Sarasota with 100 vendors, a 15-class bike show (Sunday only) and nine bands on the Jagermeister stage (Shotgun Justice, Tucci Group, the Boneshakers, the Lauren Mitchell Band, Highway to Hell, RJ Howson Band, Come Back Alice, Damon Fowler and the Bobby Friss Band).

Sunday also features a “Cruise for Cash” scenic beach ride for motorcyclist with $4,000 in cash prizes.

“We’ve moved the whole festival further down on Main Street. It used to be on Lemon Avenue and Main Street, and now we’re locating it by the bay and the vendors will be on Gulfstream. By moving it further west, it will really keep ‘Thunder by the Bay’ by the bay,” Nicandri said. “It’s going to be tons of fun, as usual.”

Hogs, unite.

14TH ANNUAL THUNDER BY THE BAY
Held at various times and locations from Jan. 6-8. Free. 371-8820, Ext. 1800; thunderbythebay.org.

SCHEDULE
FRI., JAN. 6
"Born to Be Wild" kickoff party, featuring the Billy Rice Band. Hyatt Regency Sarasota. 7 p.m.-midnight. $15.

SAT., JAN. 7
"Dealer Day," 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at Rossiter's Harley-Davidson, Manatee River Harley-Davidson, Hap's Cycle Sales, Sarasota Ford.

Downtown Festival, noon-11 p.m. Free. Vendors, demos, food. Live music on Jagermeister Stage: Shotgun Justice, 1-2:30 p.m.; Tucci Group, 3-4:30 p.m.; The Boneshakers, 5–6:30 p.m.; The Lauren Mitchell Band, 7–8:30 p.m.; Highway to Hell, 9–11 p.m.

SUN., JAN. 8
Downtown Festival, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. Vendors, demos, food. Live music on Jagermeister Stage: RJ Howson Band, 11 a.m.–noon; Come Back Alice Band, 12:30-2 p.m.; Damon Fowler, 2:30-3:45 p.m.; The Bobby Friss Band, 4:30-6 p.m.
Last modified: January 9, 2012
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VIEWING 8 COMMENTS
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Awful Kanawful
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:24 am

Just what sleepy Sarasota needs.......dangerous biker gangs roaming the streets and drinking in all the bars until they can't stand up. The only people who benefit from this is the strip clubs and that hooked nose mattress salesman turned bike dealer.
Lock up all the women and keep the kids off the streets cause its going to get down and dirty in Sarasota.

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B Hannah
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 11:40 am

Awful Kanawful, You are an idiot! Hard to believe you were the strongest swimmer.

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C Hannah
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 4:52 pm

Unpublished intelligence reports state that Sarasota will be home to a notorious Organized Crime group this weekend . Those in the know are preparing for the arrival of up to one thousand members of an Outlaw Motorcycle Club based in Colorado Springs Colorado . The report states that the group of gentlemen have planned their winter meeting to coincide with the event called Thunder By The Bay.

These fine gentlemen are just the type of tourist groups that Sarasota hopes to draw on an annual bases to make up for the lack of visitors in that slack period before spring training starts.

One good thing about these guys is that if they end up in Newtown after a night of drinking, it won't be their bodies going to the morgue.

I would love to hear that conversation between the bikers and our fine young men from Newtown.

Then again there would not be too much talking just a whole bunch of shooting.

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Snuffy
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 5:24 pm

That's funny stuff C Hannah--

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Big Wurm
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 9:29 pm

Nothing says I'm hardcore like a couple toy poodle's on my harley, LOL!I Ride a Harley and It's not the Outlaw's that worry me, They don't wear a Tie to work! those are the ones to watch out for. The Outlaws look out for the average guy.

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Eric Thompson
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 11:52 am

It would have been the right thing to do for the Sarasota Herald to provide news coverage for the West Coast ABATE of Florida, Inc. (4th largest motorcycle rights and safety organization in the USA) 31st Annual TOY RUN charity motorcycle ride held this past December 2011 which had over 200 riders in attendance. Sarasota has a long tradition of motorcycling and there are thousands of residents who ride motorcycles of all kinds. Many in our community may not know that our own local motorcycle dealership HAPS is the oldest BMW motorcycle dealership in the USA, for example. Motorcycling community lives here, spends here, and helps the overall community. I would like to see the Herald give more coverage to all motorcycling events in the future.

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Sunny Day
Saturday, January 7, 2012 at 6:37 am

The Sons have arrived and let the party begin.

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Ross
Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 8:08 am

What would happen if the "Sons of Anarchy" from Charming, CA decided to have their winter meeting here? It would be mass chaos and destruction....oh the horror.