2024 National Rally: REDMOND Oregon

[flyhi2cfar]

Here's the attendance numbers for all the National Rallies.

National Rally Locations and Numbers

01 - 1973 - Morgan Hill, CALIFORNIA (fairground) -- 425
02 - 1974 - Table Rock, SOUTH CAROLINA (campground) -- 1001
03 - 1975 - Branson, MISSOURI (campground) -- 2096
04 - 1976 - Oshkosh, WISCONSIN (EAA airfield facility) -- 1820
05 - 1977 - Colorado Springs, COLORADO (a dude ranch!) -- 2389
06 - 1978 - Rutland, VERMONT (fairground) -- 3573
07 - 1979 - Brainerd, MINNESOTA (a racetrack!) -- 3276
08 - 1980 - Prineville, OREGON (fairground) -- 2575
09 - 1981 - Hurricane Mills, TENNESSEE (a dude ranch) -- 6122
10 - 1982 - Shreve, OHIO (campground) -- 4478
11 - 1983 - Lake Placid, NEW YORK (a horse show grounds) -- 5301
12 - 1984 - Missoula, MONTANA (fairground) - 3733
13 - 1985 - Lake Wales, FLORIDA (resort) -- 2270
14 - 1986 - Laguna Seca, CALIFORNIA (THE motorcycle raceway) -- 3472
15 - 1987 - Escanaba, MICHIGAN (fairground) -- 6110
16 - 1988 - Madison, INDIANA (fairground) -- 5637
17 - 1989 - York, PENNSYLVANIA (fairground) -- 7060
18 - 1990 - Rapid City, SOUTH DAKOTA (fairground) -- 4105
19 - 1991 - Flagstaff, ARIZONA (fairground) -- 4544
20 - 1992 - DuQuoin, ILLINOIS (fairground) -- 5895
21 - 1993 - Oshkosh, WISCONSIN (fairground) -- 5576
22 - 1994 - Moodus, CONNECTICUT (resort) -- 5627
23 - 1995 - Durango, COLORADO (fairground) -- 6137
24 - 1996 - Morganton, NORTH CAROLINA (fairground) -- 5904
25 - 1997 - Fredricksburg, TEXAS (municipal park) -- 3826
26 - 1998 - Missoula, MONTANA (fairground) -- 6050
27 - 1999 - Rhinebeck, NEW YORK (fairground) -- 6440
28 - 2000 - Midland, MICHIGAN (fairground) -- 6188
29 - 2001 - Redmond, OREGON (fairground) -- 6677
30 - 2002 - Trenton, ONTARIO (city park – a LARGE city park!) – 5,682
31 - 2003 - Charleston, WEST VIRGINIA (in town Civic Center) -- 7198
32 - 2004 - Spokane, WASHINGTON (fairground) -- 6187
33 - 2005 - Lima, OHIO (fairground) -- 8298
34 - 2006 – Essex Junction, VERMONT (exposition center) -- 9200
35 - 2007 - West Bend, WISCONSIN (county park) -- 7875
36 - 2008 - Gillette, WYOMING (multi-event facility) -- 5000?
37 - 2009 - Johnson City, TENNESSEE (fairgrounds) -- 8972
38 - 2010 - Redmond, OREGON (expo center) -- 6109
39 - 2011 - Bloomsburg, PENNSYLVANIA (fair grounds) -- 7330
40 - 2012 - Sedalia, MISSOURI (fair grounds) -- 5295
41 - 2013 - Salem, OREGON (fair grounds) -- 5100
42 - 2014 - St. Paul, MINNESOTA (fair grounds) -- 5866
43 - 2015 - Billings, MONTANA (expo center) – 5872
44 – 2016 – Hamburg, NEW YORK (fair grounds) -- 6100
45 – 2017 – Salt Lake City, UTAH (fair grounds) -- 4206
46 – 2018 – Des Moines, IOWA (fair grounds) -- 4580
47 – 2019 – Lebanon, TENNESSEE (exposition center) -- 6018
2020 – Great Falls, MONTANA (expo park) -- cancelled due to COVID-19
48 – 2021 – Great Falls, MONTANA (expo park) – 4889

49 - 2022 – Springfield, Missouri (Ozark Empire Fairgrounds) – 4,621

50 – 2023 – Doswell, Virginia (Meadow Event Park) – 5,836

51 – 2024 – Redmond, Oregon (Deschutes Country Fair&Expo Center)- 4,970

Just an observation.
If about half of us brought a 1st time guest to Lebanon 25’… thinking 7,500 in attendance would be a big record for the last 15 years!

 

[brownie0486]

2006 Essex Jct. 9200. Top attendance number from the list above. Interesting, a location tucked in a corner of the country had the most attendance. There goes that myth that more people show up when they're held in the middle of the country so more can attend.

350 miles from the Atlantic [ of the roughly 2800 miles coast to coast ] had 8900 in attendance. Another one of the top attendance sites from the list above.

Haven't had a national in Az for 33 years. That's quite interesting as it wasn't one of the lowest attendance events by a wide margin on the list.

 

[PGlaves]

The one thing I find the most interesting is the decrease in attendance at Redmond, Oregon over the years.

2001 = 6677
2010 = 6109 That is a 568 person, 8.5% decrease in 9 years
2024 = 4970 That is an 1,139 person, 18.6% decrease in those latter 14 years, and a 25.5% decrease overall.

It will be interesting to see how Lebanon, Tennessee in 2025 compares to 2019.

 

[gsinnc]

And Lima Ohio had a high number and good lord that was a hot dust bowl! Also, Essex was exceptionally hot for Vermont, we had dorm rooms at the local college which work super well but the AC in the dorms would only go down to about 80 degrees. UGH!

 

[GTRider]

The one thing I find the most interesting is the decrease in attendance at Redmond, Oregon over the years.

2001 = 6677
2010 = 6109 That is a 568 person, 8.5% decrease in 9 years
2024 = 4970 That is an 1,139 person, 18.6% decrease in those latter 14 years, and a 25.5% decrease overall.

It will be interesting to see how Lebanon, Tennessee in 2025 compares to 2019.

But the real question is, how do those numbers graph out when compared to membership numbers for those same years…

Best,
DeVern

 

[flyhi2cfar]

The one thing I find the most interesting is the decrease in attendance at Redmond, Oregon over the years.

2001 = 6677
2010 = 6109 That is a 568 person, 8.5% decrease in 9 years
2024 = 4970 That is an 1,139 person, 18.6% decrease in those latter 14 years, and a 25.5% decrease overall.

It will be interesting to see how Lebanon, Tennessee in 2025 compares to 2019.

The Redmond "look-back", on those attendance numbers, is also what had me thinking about what Lebanon may look like.
Real possibility of... not good!
Especially if the decrease mirrors what transpired at the fantastic Redmond venue.
Weather is always a big factor these days, we knew geographically Oregon would be rather nice in June 2024.

And we were fortunate in June of 19' with the Tennessee weather, temperature especially.
But during the scheduled Rally dates this summer in TN... it was 92-98 highs that week. And 87% humidity at 5am one morning.
Have a 10 day forecast showing stuff like that in 25'... and 5,000 attending would be like hitting the lottery!

 

[PGlaves]

But the real question is, how do those numbers graph out when compared to membership numbers for those same years…

Best,
DeVern

I agree. I don't have those numbers but I do know that membership grew in the late '90s, peaked around the years that I was President at the turn of the century, then dropped slightly. The bloodbath coincided with the "great recession" of 2008. And from the rally attendance figures it looks like the late nineties and early two-thousands were good rally times too!

 

[gsinnc]

The Redmond "look-back", on those attendance numbers, is also what had me thinking about what Lebanon may look like.
Real possibility of... not good!
Especially if the decrease mirrors what transpired at the fantastic Redmond venue.
Weather is always a big factor these days, we knew geographically Oregon would be rather nice in June 2024.

And we were fortunate in June of 19' with the Tennessee weather, temperature especially.
But during the scheduled Rally dates this summer in TN... it was 92-98 highs that week. And 87% humidity at 5am one morning.
Have a 10 day forecast showing stuff like that in 25'... and 5,000 attending would be like hitting the lottery!

Like I have always said ... it is the summer! You can not plan the weather. Look at Vermont in 2006. It was in the 90's! I think the 2019 Rally weather was a unique event and I would not plan on that weather next year. It's the south in June !

 

[lee]

I agree. I don't have those numbers but I do know that membership grew in the late '90s, peaked around the years that I was President at the turn of the century, then dropped slightly. The bloodbath coincided with the "great recession" of 2008. And from the rally attendance figures it looks like the late nineties and early two-thousands were good rally times too!

Here's the member numbers from 2001 to 2012.

 

[jandhumphreyme]

Be interesting to overlay this chart with the average age per year.

 

[PGlaves]

The chart isn't perfectly precise but it looks like 35,000 in 2001 and 36,000 in 2010. So membership was up in 2010 but rally attendance went down slightly. That could be the weather or some other unknown variable. In any event it looks like attendance was about 19% of membership in 2001 and about 17% of membership in 2010.

 

[20774]

Ran across this site for 2024 rally pictures by member The_Veg. I hope he doesn't mind me offering the link!!

Out West 2024 - The Veg

Motorcycle trip to the BMW MOA rally, Spokane, and Priest Lake

vegomatic.smugmug.com

 

[gsinnc]

Ran across this site for 2024 rally pictures by member The_Veg. I hope he doesn't mind me offering the link!!

Out West 2024 - The Veg

Motorcycle trip to the BMW MOA rally, Spokane, and Priest Lake

vegomatic.smugmug.com

Very nice ! Some places I’ve been to and some on my must see list

Thanks for sharing!

 

[flyhi2cfar]

Very nice ! Some places I’ve been to and some on my must see list

Thanks for sharing!

Seems I've missed a few places in my travels, yep... ready to return to Redmond already! Love that rally site.
Great photography from The Veg.