Rosalia motorcycle run reaches end of the line

With sponsors pulling out because of the recession, members of the Rosalia Motorcycle Association have decided to cancel the town’s annual motorcycle rally.

“Unfortunately, we’re just not going to be able to put it on this year,” Kelly Messinger, a member of the Rosalia Motorcycle Association, said.

Messinger said the recession has hit the motorcycle industry particularly hard. That hit the pocketbooks of the association, which relied heavily on corporate sponsorships to put on rallies the last two years.

Association president Brody Babb previously told the Gazette the group was in the hole $10,000 from the 2008 rally.

“People just couldn’t afford to keep doing that,” said Messinger. “You throw in our sponsors pulling out, and we just can’t do it anymore.”

At its peak, the August rally reportedly drew more than 20,000 cycle enthusiasts and others to Rosalia.

In its first three years, the rally flooded Rosalia streets with vendors selling the hottest custom choppers and motorcycle accessories to bikers from around the nation.

But the motorcycle rally had become a contentious event since it was started by Josh Bryan, a motorcycle builder from Rosalia.

Many business leaders saw it as a boost to the local economy with thousands of tourists bringing with them thousands of dollars that went into restaurants and grocery stores.

Others in town, though, said the influx of cash was not worth the price.

A council session in June 2007 brought out hundreds of Rosalians who felt the alcohol-fueled rally diminished the town’s reputation. They asked the council to put an end to the rally.

A portion of the gate receipts was paid to the town. However, the money generated from those numbers was allegedly smaller than it should have been.

Bryan was turned out as rally organizer and that led to a suit in which Bryan sued the City of Rosalia, Park District, Chamber of Commerce and others

In late 2007, the Chamber of Commerce bought out Bryan’s contract for $2,500. The city and the park and recreation district, however, never officially broke off their contracts with Bryan.

Rosalia Motorcycle Association then took over promotion of the rally, but their efforts were hamstrung.

Bryan’s suit contended his contract with the city, which expires in 2011, gave him exclusive rights to the city’s streets during the third weekend in August.

The 2009 rally was shifted from city streets to the park. Estimates from association members at the time had fewer than 1,000 people attending.

Bryan, meanwhile, moved his rally to the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds for 2008 and 2009, with no rally scheduled for this summer.