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2016 Rally location?

36654 said:
OK, I don't know how anyone from the suburban sprawl of Bucks County can complain about the traffic in St. Paul, but every one is entitled to their opinion.

Relative to Bloomsburg, yes it is an old facility. In addition, it's a "county" fairgrounds vs a "state" fairgrounds like the facility in St. Paul, so you're comparing Apples and Oranges. For the type of facilities that we seem to desire for the rally, a university athletic department complex seems like the best fit. But, finding one that would willingly host the event would be a challenge.
Click to expand...

Bucks county is a large county and if you really want to experience the joys of riding upper Bucks sometime please feel free to contact me as I think you would be pleased at the rural roads that we have and some of the hamlets that are along the Delaware River . Lower Bucks County is another story all together and would remind one of the Minneapolis rally site in a heart beat. I truly don't know what some of you are talking about when your saying the lack of traffic at last years rally location. Those fairgrounds are surrounded by urban sprawl. Every morning and evening commuter traffic jams were a common place on the other side of the fence adjacent to the RV camping area. I saw it, I experienced every single day ( I arrived on Tuesday) except the Sunday I left. The year before we stayed in the Minneapolis area for a day and half on our way home from the national in Oregon and toured some of the area. It reminded us of many of the large metro areas of the east and were puzzled as to why the MOA choose that location. So as I mentioned earlier I'm hopping Billings is the start of great and rally locations for the MOA and I hope they choose a site worthy of a record breaking attendance for the eastern 2016 national rally.
 
MTHelmet said:
I think that PA was Ok, just hot.

There are great place in New England. An until some of the places the Rally has been, should be rejected.

Any place that has not had a National rally should be chosen.

May be a June or August date would work for a change. This would open arenas that might be closed for are dates.

;)
Click to expand...

I recall a discussion re: the time of the rally, in the recent past (year or two) and it was decided it will stay July. After PA, NOBODY wants to consider August. They want to keep it when school is out, but not August.
 
nplenzick said:
Bucks county is a large county and if you really want to experience the joys of riding upper Bucks sometime please feel free to contact me as I think you would be pleased at the rural roads that we have and some of the hamlets that are along the Delaware River . Lower Bucks County is another story all together and would remind one of the Minneapolis rally site in a heart beat. I truly don't know what some of you are talking about when your saying the lack of traffic at last years rally location. Those fairgrounds are surrounded by urban sprawl. Every morning and evening commuter traffic jams were a common place on the other side of the fence adjacent to the RV camping area. I saw it, I experienced every single day ( I arrived on Tuesday) except the Sunday I left. The year before we stayed in the Minneapolis area for a day and half on our way home from the national in Oregon and toured some of the area. It reminded us of many of the large metro areas of the east and were puzzled as to why the MOA choose that location. So as I mentioned earlier I'm hopping Billings is the start of great and rally locations for the MOA and I hope they choose a site worthy of a record breaking attendance for the eastern 2016 national rally.
Click to expand...

I walked to the rally everyday. Strolling thru Como park, past the Zoo and carousel was delightful. On the last Saturday, a national Frisbee golf tournament was held in the park and provide some entertainment.

Sometimes, parking the bike and walking a few thousand feet provides a different perspective.
 
36654 said:
I walked to the rally everyday. Strolling thru Como park, past the Zoo and carousel was delightful. On the last Saturday, a national Frisbee golf tournament was held in the park and provide some entertainment.

Sometimes, parking the bike and walking a few thousand feet provides a different perspective.
Click to expand...

Actually I walked to my booth every day from the RV area so if ones perspective is walking in the fairgrounds I can see how someone never saw the traffic that was just outside of it. Didn't have time to walk to the post office that was about 4 or 5 miles away so I had to ride to it and if one did that you would easily have experience the traffic congestion of the morning and evening of a major metro area.
 
I see in past years the rally was held in Arizona, Texas and Florida. Any grizzled veterans survive and able to tell us about them? Maybe they weren't so bad.
 
bluehole said:
I see in past years the rally was held in Arizona, Texas and Florida. Any grizzled veterans survive and able to tell us about them? Maybe they weren't so bad.
Click to expand...

Neither the Florida nor the Texas rallies were nearly as "bad" -ie hot - as several more northern rallies including Lima, Spokane, York on Thursday, or Bloomsburg. The weather at the Rafter J in Florida was temperate, with a shower each afternoon. The big issue was trying to escape the approaching gulf hurricane when leaving the rally.

Fredericksburg was also a pleasant rally weather-wise. There had been heavy rains and flooding in the days prior to the rally which scared off a number of people as the news media fed a frenzy about floods in Texas. But the rally was just fine and we (Voni and I) even went home to Kansas and came back for the following weekend for Willie Nelson's 4th of July Picnic at Luchenbach.

Flagstaff in northern Arizona and at 7,000 ft. MSL to boot was also a pleasant rally as I recall.
 
PGlaves said:
Neither the Florida nor the Texas rallies were nearly as "bad" -ie hot - as several more northern rallies including Lima, Spokane, York on Thursday, or Bloomsburg. The weather at the Rafter J in Florida was temperate, with a shower each afternoon. The big issue was trying to escape the approaching gulf hurricane when leaving the rally.

Fredericksburg was also a pleasant rally weather-wise. There had been heavy rains and flooding in the days prior to the rally which scared off a number of people as the news media fed a frenzy about floods in Texas. But the rally was just fine and we (Voni and I) even went home to Kansas and came back for the following weekend for Willie Nelson's 4th of July Picnic at Luchenbach.

Flagstaff in northern Arizona and at 7,000 ft. MSL to boot was also a pleasant rally as I recall.
Click to expand...

Fredericksburg was a midweek rally, on the third week of June. While the weather was pleasant, there wasn't a place that wasn't mushy to put your tent or your bike. It was poorly attended for a number of reasons: weather prior to the rally (& resulting flood warnings) - earliest rally ever, and mid week. I, on the other-hand, had a wonderful time (as usual)
 
Sue said:
Fredericksburg was a midweek rally, on the third week of June. While the weather was pleasant, there wasn't a place that wasn't mushy to put your tent or your bike. It was poorly attended for a number of reasons: weather prior to the rally (& resulting flood warnings) - earliest rally ever, and mid week. I, on the other-hand, had a wonderful time (as usual)
Click to expand...

The soil for tents was a bit mushy maybe but we (Voni and I) never found a need to park on anything but the plentiful pavement all over the grounds. Yes, (like Paonia) this might have meant a short walk to the tent, it was a non-issue.

As for the earliness, it was in June - yes - but the last week. Making it only a couple of weeks earlier than a mid-July rally. Functionally irrelevant. Mid-week was novel. We ought to do that again sometime.
 
I did not know it was a mid week rally. It sounds odd, but might not be all that bad. Many riders could use the weekend in either side for travel...perhaps reducing the need to take additional time off.
 
rockbottom said:
Wait--why?
Click to expand...

I should have been more specific and said no Bloomsburg. Besides the poor facilities you might recall that the place flooded shortly after the rally ended. There was a marker on the stage that showed previous flood levels. I sold T shirts and CDs for Paul Thorne and that flood marker was right next to that end of the stage. So even discounting the heat, which no one could have predicted, it would not be a good place to go back to. I have been all over PA as a corporate pilot and it has some beautiful scenery so maybe you could suggest a spot for consideration.:type
 
jdubick said:
I should have been more specific and said no Bloomsburg. Besides the poor facilities you might recall that the place flooded shortly after the rally ended. There was a marker on the stage that showed previous flood levels. I sold T shirts and CDs for Paul Thorne and that flood marker was right next to that end of the stage. So even discounting the heat, which no one could have predicted, it would not be a good place to go back to. I have been all over PA as a corporate pilot and it has some beautiful scenery so maybe you could suggest a spot for consideration.:type
Click to expand...

Kind of strange to rule a place out because of weather, particularly a once-in-a-century level flood. But in Pennsylvania I'd opt for State College. Extensive facilities, in the middle of the best riding in the state, easy to get to.
 
jdubick said:
I should have been more specific and said no Bloomsburg. Besides the poor facilities you might recall that the place flooded shortly after the rally ended. There was a marker on the stage that showed previous flood levels. I sold T shirts and CDs for Paul Thorne and that flood marker was right next to that end of the stage. So even discounting the heat, which no one could have predicted, it would not be a good place to go back to. I have been all over PA as a corporate pilot and it has some beautiful scenery so maybe you could suggest a spot for consideration.:type
Click to expand...

I would go back to Bloomsburg. I thought using the dorms. for our lodging was genius along with the frequent buses. The people in town were wonderfully friendly, the food was good and very reasonably priced and the only police I saw was when they were directing traffic when the rally was over. You can find better facilities more easily than you can find a nice town with nice people that seemed to appreciate us being there.
 
Possible Rally site?

http://kyhorsepark.com/events/available-facilities/facility-rentals

While I'm sure the 2016 location is either already booked or close to it, perhaps the Kentucky Horse Park could be considered for a future location.

They recently hosted the World Equestrian Games and have plenty of hotel rooms within a short ride (6.3 miles to Georgetown, Ky, 9.4 miles to Lexington, Ky) and a large campground with both paved and primitive spots http://kyhorsepark.com/visit/park-info-resources/khp-campground.

Kentucky is warm during the summer, but not more than most of the rest of the country.

I'm not sure who to send suggestions to, but I'd appreciate it if someone who does could pass this along.

Thanks!
Daryl
 
DBCasey said:
http://kyhorsepark.com/events/available-facilities/facility-rentals

While I'm sure the 2016 location is either already booked or close to it, perhaps the Kentucky Horse Park could be considered for a future location.

They recently hosted the World Equestrian Games and have plenty of hotel rooms within a short ride (6.3 miles to Georgetown, Ky, 9.4 miles to Lexington, Ky) and a large campground with both paved and primitive spots http://kyhorsepark.com/visit/park-info-resources/khp-campground.

Kentucky is warm during the summer, but not more than most of the rest of the country.

I'm not sure who to send suggestions to, but I'd appreciate it if someone who does could pass this along.

Thanks!
Daryl
Click to expand...

I stopped there once and looked around. It's definitely a great spot. Not sure how they'd feel about disrupting the beautiful thoroughbreds.
 
DBCasey said:
http://kyhorsepark.com/events/available-facilities/facility-rentals

While I'm sure the 2016 location is either already booked or close to it, perhaps the Kentucky Horse Park could be considered for a future location.

They recently hosted the World Equestrian Games and have plenty of hotel rooms within a short ride (6.3 miles to Georgetown, Ky, 9.4 miles to Lexington, Ky) and a large campground with both paved and primitive spots http://kyhorsepark.com/visit/park-info-resources/khp-campground.

Kentucky is warm during the summer, but not more than most of the rest of the country.

I'm not sure who to send suggestions to, but I'd appreciate it if someone who does could pass this along.

Thanks!
Daryl
Click to expand...

I stopped there once and looked around. It's definitely a great spot. Not sure how they'd feel about disrupting the beautiful thoroughbreds. I think we checked into it previously, but will mention it to the RSS team.
 
rockbottom said:
Kind of strange to rule a place out because of weather, particularly a once-in-a-century level flood. But in Pennsylvania I'd opt for State College. Extensive facilities, in the middle of the best riding in the state, easy to get to.
Click to expand...

There is no camping unless someone on the PSU athletic department can make it happen and you would have to compete with the revenue machine known as athletic summer camps. While you might like to ride your motorcycle, parents will spare no expense to send their children to a sports camp at a large university.
 
36654 said:
There is no camping unless someone on the PSU athletic department can make it happen and you would have to compete with the revenue machine known as athletic summer camps. While you might like to ride your motorcycle, parents will spare no expense to send their children to a sports camp at a large university.
Click to expand...

Could possible use the Grange Fairgrounds in Center Hall. Right close to State College
 
sal said:
Could possible use the Grange Fairgrounds in Center Hall. Right close to State College
Click to expand...

Excellent idea, but no AC and I doubt the small grandstand meets the 3500 capacity requirement.

But, I do know a person in marketing at the fairgrounds.......
 
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