When you think of the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds, what comes to mind is probably the midway, cotton candy and the carnies. Last week, the Fairgrounds were alive with the roar of motorcycle engines at the second annual Bloomsburg Bike Show.
I heard about this from my good friends Patty and Dave Emmanuel. Dave and Patty have racehorses stabled at the Fairgrounds. Dave thought that I might like to come down, bring the old man and see what’s happening in that neck of the woods. It was certainly worth the drive down, not only for the company; but also to see so many bikes, vendors and entertainment. The stunt riders were awesome.
Most of the action was happening in the area around the exhibit buildings. The bikes were lined up so that people could browse through and see the many different types of bikes and their very interesting paintjobs. In the bandstand they had live bands playing. It was a great place to get out of the sun and listen to some tunes. The vendors displayed leather goods, sunglasses, lots of cool T-shirts and a lot of motorcycle parts.
Ray Vreeland of Vreeland’s Harley-Davidson was there for the second year. Vreeland’s H-D is a local Bloomsburg dealer just down the road on Route 11 as you head toward Danville.
“We were here last year. It’s going pretty good this year, a lot of bikes,” said Vreeland.
When asked why Vreeland’s chose to participate, he said, “It’s close to the shop, and actually bringing the bikes to the area was good for us. All weekend we were busy at the shop. So for us it’s a good thing.” He also liked the bikes and thought the stunt riders were pretty cool. He added, “It’s a good weekend, good weather and all kinds of neat things going on. It was twice the size it was last year.”
Michael and Tiffany Polizzi are the organizers of the Bloomsburg Bike Show.
“My husband just loves motorcycles,” she said of Michael. “The Fairgrounds are just a wonderful venue. He’s been all over, to Carlisle, (Pa.) (and) Wildwood, (N.J.), and there wasn’t another one like this around here. He said let’s do it.”
At the time she thought he was crazy. Tiffany mentioned that this year they offered free camping, which was nice, but only a couple of people used the camping option. She feels that, “Next year we are going to do it for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, that way people can get out of work on Friday and come up for the weekend.” She said that this year they tried to get everything people wanted, such as a swap meet, tattoo artists and leather goods. This year they were also able to offer patches and T-shirts. I know, I got one. Saturday saw 1,000 bikes. If you know Bloomsburg, that’s a lot of chrome for a small town.
Both Mike and Tiffany, who live just down the road from the Fairgrounds, are proud of their effort and make it a family affair. Their daughter Chloe wasn’t there as it was her first day of cheerleading, and son Tyler is a little too young, but Carter was on hand to help.
When I asked him why he does this, Mike said, “Just to bring people to the area to help business. I like motorcycles.” He currently drives a Suzuki Hyabusa but feels like he may be getting old enough to buy a Harley-Davidson. He also wants to share something with his kids like bikes, too. Though I’m not sure how Tyler feels about that yet.
This isn’t an easy process to make happen.
“Each year I have to go ahead and get a date set up, then I have to set up a contract (with the fair board), get insurance and get the vendors to come,” he said. “You don’t know how much to put out. Last year I put out all the money myself. This year I tried to do more and to get a few more vendors and get a little bigger. This year, because it’s the second year and more people know about it, it did get bigger.”
Tiffany laughs when she remembers last year.
“I was eight months pregnant,” she said. “This year it’s a little bit more fun.”
Having jobs and three kids, the Polizzis still find time to contribute to the enjoyment of the biking world by organizing and running this show. Look for it again this time next year.
I don’t know about you, but I’m in for next year. Maybe I’ll do the slow ride this time.
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