BANGOR, Maine — When organizers of the Maine Harley-Davidson Owners Group rally decided on Bangor for their 2016 event, which starts Wednesday and runs through Sunday, no other events were planned for the area.
Now, there are downtown and waterfront concerts or other events scheduled that will keep the hundreds of motorcyclists entertained when they’re not riding their bikes.
“As it turns out, all the things planned [in the city] work for us — our people like to go to concerts,” rally coordinator Cliff Lippitt said Wednesday as volunteers set up the events area in the parking lot of Cross Insurance Center.
He said organizers were trying to avoid traffic tie-ups for the nearly 500 Harley registrants, and are working with the city to keep things running smoothly.
Bangor-area H.O.G. events are planned at the Cole Land Transportation Museum, Cross Insurance Center, Season’s Restaurant, the Sea Dog Brewing Co. and Central Maine Harley Davidson in Hermon, and there are guided or self-guided rides from these sites to points all over the state. A hefty schedule of events is listed on the group’s rally website. Public events include daily demonstration rides on a wide variety of Harleys from Cross Insurance Center for anyone with a motorcycle license, and on Friday at the waterfront, a Ride and Bike Show is planned for 4-6 p.m., and a Lighted Bike Show will be held 8-10 p.m.
“The public is invited to come down and judge the bikes,” Lippitt said of the two shows.
Also listed on the schedule is Thursday’s Cool Sounds Concert Series and market in West Market Square, 5-8 p.m., featuring the dance band Trendy Roots, and Friday night’s free outdoor movie, “The Princess Bride,” at Pickering Square sponsored by River City Cinema.
The Harley Owner’s Group rally for Maine is returning to the Queen City after 18 years.
“We felt it needed to come back to Bangor,” Lippitt said.
“This is a great spot to go wherever you want to go,” he said later. “I really like the Rangeley route. Schoodic is a great ride and a nice close ride is down to Fort Knox.”
So many people signed up for the approximately 280-mile round-trip, police-escorted ride to West Quoddy Head that organizers limited the ride to 100 and had to turn people away, Lippitt said. Each ride typically involves some sort of food destination, the organizer said.
“We like to eat. It’s doesn’t have to be fancy, but it has to be good,” Lippitt said.
Central Maine Harley-Davidson kicks off the four-day event Wednesday with music and food by Texas Roadhouse until 6:30 p.m. at their Route 2 location in Hermon.
The Waterfront concerts include Hall and Oates on Thursday at 7 p.m., with gates opening at 5 p.m., and Tedeschi Trucks and Los Lobos at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with gates opening at 5:30 p.m.
“Our slogan for this year’s rally is ‘Rollin on the River, Hear the Roar,’ and our side slogan is ‘Having more fun than normal,’” Lippitt said, referencing a Bangor Daily News headline from the rally in 1998. “That is really what we want to do. Ride during the day, have fun at night and meet new people.”
With riders coming from 30 different states and four Canadian provinces, he said, “the Maine rally is really a destination.”