GREENE – A total of 238 bikes cruised down Genesee Street into downtown Greene on July 30 to participate in the village’s inaugural Bike Night. They came in such numbers, in fact, that they wildly exceeded even the event sponsors’ expectations. Those sponsors are hoping to build on the first event’s success, with their second Bike Night, planned for this Thursday.
“We had a great turnout,” said Enzo Olivieri from Nathanael Greene’s Publick House who, along with Barry Stephens of Tri-County Collision and Wes “Big Wally” VanVoorhies, organized the event. The same three men also sponsor the Greene Cruise In which has been drawing an increasing number of classic cars, street rods and automobiles, not to mention crowds of spectators, to the downtown district every other Thursday since they initiated the event last summer.
After they began the Cruise In, Olivieri said it didn’t take long to realize there was enough interest to warrant a similar event for motorcycles. Deciding to concentrate first on the bi-weekly classic car show before branching out, they held off on the bike idea for a year. But last month they decided they were ready.
After gauging interest, the men approached the village’s board of trustees for permission to hold a motorcycle event the last Thursday in July.
“They gave us an OK to do it,” Olivieri said, but they made it clear that the approval was for only the one event. Any future bike nights would have to be approved as well, and would be contingent on the success of the first.
Olivieri, Stephens and VanVoorhies began advertising the event on the radio. They also contacted Southern Tier Harley Davidson and visited Gilligan’s in Sherburne during their weekly bike event in an effort to let local bike enthusiasts know about the event.
Another group they contacted was the local chapter of the Red Knights Motorcycle Club. Founded last July, the group is comprised of more than 50 volunteer firefighters and emergency squad members from across Chenango and Broome counties.
From the response they received, they were expecting between 60 and 80 bikes, Olivieri reported. They ended up with more than three times that amount.
“We pulled a lot of people from all over,” he said. “It was fantastic.”
