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Its about time, dont get discouraged as it will take time to build this up. Plant City started very weak but grew to be one of the best Sat.night bikefest around central Florida. Vendors and downtown businesses must keep prices in line as most bikers know when they are being stiffed.

I am very glad to see Lakeland is starting to recognize that the biker community would like to have a biker event downtown. There have been classic car shows and art in the park and Mayfair by the lake and other events for years. I hope someday that we here in down town Lakeland can have a Bike Week like the Leesburg Bikefest and generate a lot of money for the city of Lakeland and Polk County. Us Bikers are not bad people and when the city and county commissioner’s see this and see the revenue that will be brought in they will wish they planned these years ago.I hope it all works out and this event will lead to bigger and better events down town.

Please publish a map of the downtown area for people that don`t know the area, will be able to negotiate the area. I am in the HOG group and don`t know where Harrys is.

Thanks

This is going to be awesome! I am glad to see an organized Bike Event with the City involved. Great Job!

I attended your first ever Bike Night and was very pleased to see the large crowd and 60 to 70 vendors on hand. Whoever came up with this idea deserves a lot of credit, I think this event far surpassed any Plant City Bike Night ever held. I would like to see more 50/50 tickets available and maybe a emcee with a portable mike working the crowd. Again my hats off to the City of Lakeland for hosting this event and hopefully many more.

The most successful and impressive First Friday event I have ever attended in downtown Lakeland!!! Whoever was in charge of organizing this event deserves recognition for their efforts. This event definitely brought life to the downtown Lakeland area. The turnout of motorcycles far surpassed my expectations of this first time First Friday motorcycle event! The vendors and entertainment were awesome! The general public in attendance was enormous and was the completion of a wonderful experience in downtown Lakeland. Loved it!!!

Thanks to The Downtown Partnership crew for a WONDERFUL night! Extra special thanks to Gene Turchan for VOLUNTEERING to organize this incredibly fun evening. He even recruited his own crew of additional volunteers (one couple from Melbourne – Forida, that is) to make the evening even easier for the merchants. Thanks, also, to all of the participants who helped create a Downtown Lakeland event worth driving from (as visitors/customrers commented)as far away as Orlando, Tampa and even Miami for and for everyone who came out and helped show support for the Downtown restaurants and merchants. In my opinion, based on comments from the visitors/customers, we DEFINITELY have a winning event here!

KUDOS to the City of Lakeland’s downtown district for sponsoring such a great night of music, bikes, and classic cars too. I agree that a focal point in the park via loudspeaker would be in order. Also, we only saw one food vendor!!!! We had eaten at Harry’s so it didn’t bother me, but fair type food booths or even healthy food offerings would be a super addition!! Keep up the good work. IF the purpose is to bring more people downtown at night and then again during the day…your goal was met! We’ll be back for the eateries, the antiques, the artwork/galleries; the Wed/Sat market…and anything else happening!

Denise, thanks. Most of the Downtown restaurants were vending on the street in addition to having their dining rooms open. We would not have outside vendors to compete with them, since the downtown businesses are the folks who pay to host the event. We had a DJ on Cedar next to the park for music and announcements, but there really is no way to have loudspeakers to cover the entire event. Thanks for coming and and thanks for your comments!!

Bill, Thanks for your comments. The Downtown Lakeland Partnership is the organizer of all First FRiday events, including this one. This was the first time we had a bike night theme, and it was initiated by one of our members, FAITH Riders. Gene Turchan was the master mind and he really put all of the blood sweat and tears into the organization and signing up of vendors. We’ll take any and all feedback to help us make a better event next time. We will move it from a Friday nihgt though to a Saturday to give the vendors more time to sell and to avoid the Friday night traffic issues. First we need to recover from this one, Thanks again, Julie Townsend.

Fantastic Event, KUDOS out to FAITH Riders and Gene Turchan for spearheading and organizing this event. Judging by the number of visitors, above and beyond the typical number at First Friday, this event showcased Downtown Lakeland to whole lot of new visitors. LETS DO IT AGAIN