As the Harley Davidson Spring Bike Rally ended Sunday, the Atlantic Beach Bike Fest is making final preparations for its May 27th kickoff.
For 31 years, the small town of Atlantic Beach has become a haven for motorcyclists during the Memorial Day weekend.
Atlantic Beach Town Manager William Booker says the town is taking care of its last minute details. "We're getting vendor permits done, cleaning up and getting our volunteers staffed," says Booker. "Basically, we're just laying out everything."
The town is changing the lay out of vehicle traffic this year. During the rally, cars traveling in Atlantic Beach will be forced down 29th Avenue South and 32nd Avenue South which is the same as years prior, but instead of traveling around on 2nd Avenue, vehicles will travel on Ocean Blvd.
Booker hopes the loop will help with congestion in the town. "We don't discourage cars from coming, but we found last year with cars traveling down 2nd Avenue police were forced to stop traffic and let vehicles go by which made a lot of congestion. This way we can manage the traffic so there is not a lot of interaction between cars and bikers."
The Town of Atlantic Beach is surrounded by the City of North Myrtle Beach. Each year North Myrtle Beach puts barriers along Highway 17 to funnel traffic intended for Atlantic Beach. The far right lane on Highway 17 northbound starting around 40th Avenue South will lead directly to Atlantic Beach and those chutes will be managed by North Myrtle Beach police officers.
"We put that up as a courtesy to Atlantic Beach and for other visitors to the area to ease traffic," says North Myrtle Beach spokesman Pat Dowling. "We plan to put up the chutes about 3:00 a.m. Friday morning, but if we see the crowd is getting bigger earlier than we expect, we will put them up accordingly."
Along with North Myrtle Beach officials, the National Guard is expected to help with Bike Fest crowd control as it did with the Harley Rally.
"The additional helicopters from the National Guard are going to be our eyes in the sky," says Dowling. "These helicopters come at no extra cost to either city. The traffic will be tough for everyone to move around in, and we've got officers positioned at various places so we can get to an area as soon as possible if there is a need."
Another need Bike Fest officials are counting on is the need to maximize Atlantic Beach's opportunity for raising revenue. "People will come whether we plan well or poorly," says Booker. "But if we plan well, Atlantic Beach will be able to get the most revenue as possible from throwing this type of event."
The Atlantic Beach Memorial Day Bike Fest starts Friday and runs through Monday.
