LTVA attempts to lure motorcyclists with money

By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE – Expect to see hundreds of touring motorcyclists on the South Shore in August.

The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority on Jan. 12 authorized $15,000 for the inaugural Lake Tahoe Moto Adventure. The Tahoe-Douglas Visitors Authority is putting $5,000 toward the event.

Mike Frye, who is the events guru for LTVA, said the Street Vibrations crowd is not the demographic tourism officials want to bring to this area.

Of the touring biker crowd, he said, “They probably don’t have a six-shooter in their pocket.” This was in reference to the gunfight last year in Reno involving Street Vibrations participants.

Touring riders are in the 35- to 65-year-old group, with a household income of more than $100,000.

The touring event is tentatively set for the last weekend of August, with MontBleu being the host hotel. During the day on and off road rides would be staged throughout the area. Vendors would be set up at the casino.

“The other piece is we’d have guest speakers these guys want to hear and other activities,” Frye told the LTVA board at the Thursday meeting.

He estimates the economic impact on the South Shore ranging from $100,000 to $500,000. The span is based on a participation guess of 200 to 500 people.

Mike Bradford, who is on the TDVA board, told his LTVA counterparts, “No one else is doing anything like this. People know this niche is not being satisfied.”

A member of the audience, who is also a motorcycle owner, questioned whether summer 2012 is logical when Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe will be torn up again, causing delays. The board in its unanimous vote to fund the event didn’t make mention of the Caltrans project. (Tom Davis was absent.)