Post by Aussie_T100 on Jul 22, 2013 1:47:15 GMT -5
The British Motorcycle Owners Association of Mackay inc. (BMOA) held its 30th annual All Bike Show this past weekend (20th & 21st July). We were blessed with near perfect winter weather which, in this part of the tropics, means 20 to 25 degrees Celsius, clear blue skies and light winds. The theme of the show this year was "Celebrating 110 Years of Harley Davidson Motorcycles" in addition to celebrating our thirtieth annual All Bike Show. The venue was an old heritage listed warehouse on the banks of the Pioneer river in Mackay, Queensland, Australia. This building is sadly a little dilapidated but it is quite large and is also reasonably cheap to rent for three days over the weekend so it fits our purpose fairly well. The rustic interior of the warehouse sort of fits with the many older bikes on display as well.
The many volunteers converged on the premises from about lunchtime on the Friday and proceeded to set up the necessary bar & kitchen facilities, mark out the floor plan with chalk, set up the lighting and decorate the building with old advertising etc. There is a considerable amount of work to be done but with so many volunteers it is carried out very quickly and by mid afternoon bikes are starting to arrive and be placed on the floor. By late afternoon the building was already half full and we were beginning to become concerned that we would run out of space to show the number of motorcycles that were turning up.
That evening we hosted a gathering to thank those volunteers, sponsors & exhibitors that had supported the show over the last 30 years. With free drinks and finger food, lots of familiar old faces and an already inspiring range of excellent motorcycles to drool over this little event was thoroughly enjoyed by all of the attendees. As I was part of the team responsible for the booking in and placing motorcycles on the floor and we were opening quite early the following morning for entries to be bought in I reluctantly called it quits quite early in the evening and headed home for a well earned rest.
I arrived on site a little after seven the following morning and already the place was humming with activity, the volunteers that had camped in the building overnight as a security measure were already hard at work cleaning up after the overnight party and preparing for the flood of bikes that start to turn up early on the Saturday morning. It wasn't long before we were hard at work booking and placing bikes on the floor, shuffling them around to better present them and fretting over how quickly the available space was disappearing. As the person responsible for the floor plan I well knew that we had space available for around 110 motorcycles and by mid morning we had already booked in over 90 bikes.
We had the foresight to arrange for the use of an adjacent small car park which we could use if numbers exceeded our expectations and in preparation this area had been fenced off with temporary fencing and some shade tents erected in case this necessity eventuated. Thankfully the number of entries turning up slowed to a trickle in the latter part of the morning and by 10:30am we had 108 bikes on the floor. With only half an hour available to us before we opened to the public we quickly did a final shuffle of the bikes to evenly space them and did our final checks to ensure that everything was as it should be.
The guys on the door had been turning people away from mid morning telling them that we didn't open to the public until midday and this had resulted in some disgruntled punters so we opened the doors an hour early and the public started flooding in. I found myself a quiet area and sat down for a short but well deserved rest. Moving and placing so many bikes, especially when most of them are such rare and valuable examples, is a very stressful and tiring exercise and I was quite knackered. My rest was short lived though as inevitably small problems arose and there were more little chores to attend to.
As the first day proceeded we were pleased to see that attendance was quite high, the bar was doing a roaring trade and the volunteers in the kitchen were hard pressed to keep up with the demand for burgers. As an area that relies mainly on coal mining for its economy and with this sector currently in recession we were concerned that this years show might be less than well attended but things were already looking promising. We had put an exceptional amount of effort into making this 30th show something special and the range of bikes on display was truly amazing so it was pleasing to hear feedback from those attending that this was the best show they had seen us put on.
By the close of doors at 9:00pm that evening we were well pleased with how things had turned out for the first day. I took the opportunity, before the lighting was turned off, to run around photographing all & every entry in the show which was quite a chore as, with dealer exhibits, there were over 130 motorcycles in the building. On checking my work at home later that night I found that my photographic skills were somewhat lacking and had to discard around half of the photos I had taken due to poor light or poor focus. This meant that I would have to repeat the exercise the following day with the benefit of better light but with the disadvantage of having to deal with the crowd in attendance.
On Sunday morning I arrived on site at 9:00am, after allowing myself the luxury of a little sleep-in, to find the building already quite full of people which was very heartening. The day proceeded without any major problems beyond needing to re-stock the bar and kitchen as required and other than one of the overhead lights going up in smoke it was a relatively stress free day. The public continued to turn up in good numbers, the bar & kitchen were again very busy and the feedback continued to be very positive. With little else requiring my attention I returned to my photography chore and once again photographed every entry in the show, twice just in case. This took up most of the rest of my day as we had presentations at 2:00pm.
I was very surprised to find myself announced as one of the trophy winners when the presentations were being made, considering the standard of motorcycles we had on display the possibility of winning a trophy had not even crossed my mind, and having set myself up in a position to photograph the presentations that was my focus as my name was announced. I stood there like a stunned mullet for a few seconds as I digested the fact that my name had just been called but it was a wonderful surprise and a great way to top off the weekend.
With the formalities out of the way exhibitors quickly started removing their bikes from the building and the army of volunteers leapt into action swiftly dismantling all that we had painstakingly put into place just two short days ago. Within a few short hours the building was bare and spotless again, almost as if the show had not happened at all, so we sat down to digest the events of the weekend over a quiet drink. It was over for another year and we had pulled off a reasonably successful event.
Despite all of the hard work and worry and all of the club funds that we put at risk in staging this annual event it is something that is done just as much for the love of motorcycling as it is for financial reasons however it is always a relief to see the show come out a winner as this allows the club to give support to local charities over the coming year. Thanks to the many volunteers that worked tirelessly over the weekend and in the lead up to the show, the show committee that worked for six months preparing for the event, the sponsors that contributed trophies & financially, the many exhibitors that make a show of this standard possible and the public that supported our venture by their attendance. We look forward to doing an even better job of it next year.
You can see the results of my photography work here:-
s1097.photobucket.com/user/BMOA/slideshow/2013%20BMOA%20All%20Bike%20Show
The many volunteers converged on the premises from about lunchtime on the Friday and proceeded to set up the necessary bar & kitchen facilities, mark out the floor plan with chalk, set up the lighting and decorate the building with old advertising etc. There is a considerable amount of work to be done but with so many volunteers it is carried out very quickly and by mid afternoon bikes are starting to arrive and be placed on the floor. By late afternoon the building was already half full and we were beginning to become concerned that we would run out of space to show the number of motorcycles that were turning up.
That evening we hosted a gathering to thank those volunteers, sponsors & exhibitors that had supported the show over the last 30 years. With free drinks and finger food, lots of familiar old faces and an already inspiring range of excellent motorcycles to drool over this little event was thoroughly enjoyed by all of the attendees. As I was part of the team responsible for the booking in and placing motorcycles on the floor and we were opening quite early the following morning for entries to be bought in I reluctantly called it quits quite early in the evening and headed home for a well earned rest.
I arrived on site a little after seven the following morning and already the place was humming with activity, the volunteers that had camped in the building overnight as a security measure were already hard at work cleaning up after the overnight party and preparing for the flood of bikes that start to turn up early on the Saturday morning. It wasn't long before we were hard at work booking and placing bikes on the floor, shuffling them around to better present them and fretting over how quickly the available space was disappearing. As the person responsible for the floor plan I well knew that we had space available for around 110 motorcycles and by mid morning we had already booked in over 90 bikes.
We had the foresight to arrange for the use of an adjacent small car park which we could use if numbers exceeded our expectations and in preparation this area had been fenced off with temporary fencing and some shade tents erected in case this necessity eventuated. Thankfully the number of entries turning up slowed to a trickle in the latter part of the morning and by 10:30am we had 108 bikes on the floor. With only half an hour available to us before we opened to the public we quickly did a final shuffle of the bikes to evenly space them and did our final checks to ensure that everything was as it should be.
The guys on the door had been turning people away from mid morning telling them that we didn't open to the public until midday and this had resulted in some disgruntled punters so we opened the doors an hour early and the public started flooding in. I found myself a quiet area and sat down for a short but well deserved rest. Moving and placing so many bikes, especially when most of them are such rare and valuable examples, is a very stressful and tiring exercise and I was quite knackered. My rest was short lived though as inevitably small problems arose and there were more little chores to attend to.
As the first day proceeded we were pleased to see that attendance was quite high, the bar was doing a roaring trade and the volunteers in the kitchen were hard pressed to keep up with the demand for burgers. As an area that relies mainly on coal mining for its economy and with this sector currently in recession we were concerned that this years show might be less than well attended but things were already looking promising. We had put an exceptional amount of effort into making this 30th show something special and the range of bikes on display was truly amazing so it was pleasing to hear feedback from those attending that this was the best show they had seen us put on.
By the close of doors at 9:00pm that evening we were well pleased with how things had turned out for the first day. I took the opportunity, before the lighting was turned off, to run around photographing all & every entry in the show which was quite a chore as, with dealer exhibits, there were over 130 motorcycles in the building. On checking my work at home later that night I found that my photographic skills were somewhat lacking and had to discard around half of the photos I had taken due to poor light or poor focus. This meant that I would have to repeat the exercise the following day with the benefit of better light but with the disadvantage of having to deal with the crowd in attendance.
On Sunday morning I arrived on site at 9:00am, after allowing myself the luxury of a little sleep-in, to find the building already quite full of people which was very heartening. The day proceeded without any major problems beyond needing to re-stock the bar and kitchen as required and other than one of the overhead lights going up in smoke it was a relatively stress free day. The public continued to turn up in good numbers, the bar & kitchen were again very busy and the feedback continued to be very positive. With little else requiring my attention I returned to my photography chore and once again photographed every entry in the show, twice just in case. This took up most of the rest of my day as we had presentations at 2:00pm.
I was very surprised to find myself announced as one of the trophy winners when the presentations were being made, considering the standard of motorcycles we had on display the possibility of winning a trophy had not even crossed my mind, and having set myself up in a position to photograph the presentations that was my focus as my name was announced. I stood there like a stunned mullet for a few seconds as I digested the fact that my name had just been called but it was a wonderful surprise and a great way to top off the weekend.
With the formalities out of the way exhibitors quickly started removing their bikes from the building and the army of volunteers leapt into action swiftly dismantling all that we had painstakingly put into place just two short days ago. Within a few short hours the building was bare and spotless again, almost as if the show had not happened at all, so we sat down to digest the events of the weekend over a quiet drink. It was over for another year and we had pulled off a reasonably successful event.
Despite all of the hard work and worry and all of the club funds that we put at risk in staging this annual event it is something that is done just as much for the love of motorcycling as it is for financial reasons however it is always a relief to see the show come out a winner as this allows the club to give support to local charities over the coming year. Thanks to the many volunteers that worked tirelessly over the weekend and in the lead up to the show, the show committee that worked for six months preparing for the event, the sponsors that contributed trophies & financially, the many exhibitors that make a show of this standard possible and the public that supported our venture by their attendance. We look forward to doing an even better job of it next year.
You can see the results of my photography work here:-
s1097.photobucket.com/user/BMOA/slideshow/2013%20BMOA%20All%20Bike%20Show