Motorcyclists love their hobby and always look for events to gather with other bike enthusiasts. They regularly attend "bike nights" at local establishments but often look for great motorcycle events with mass gatherings like Daytona Bike Week or the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. This year, bikers got to add Ybor City to their list of destinations with the Ybor Thunder Bike Fest.
Ybor City created the perfect location for this bike festival and the weather couldn't have been any better. Seventh Avenue was closed for traffic except motorcycles from Nuccio Parkway to 20th Street. Along with motorcycles cruising Seventh Avenue, pedestrians could stroll down the street checking out the vast array of motorcycles. One of the things that made the Ybor Thunder Bike Fest amazing was that there were all kinds of bikes from sport bikes to cruisers to antiques.
Some bike festivals are strictly for cruisers or sport bikes. The Ybor Thunder Bike Festival showed that a bike fest can have diversity in bikes and people while having a fun, successful event. While many locals supported this festival, there were lots of motorcycle enthusiasts that traveled from throughout Florida and even out of state to attend the Ybor Thunder Bike Fest.
Along with all the activities that local businesses along 7th Avenue provided, the Ybor Thunder Bike Festival provided lots of entertainment. The focal point of the festival was in the parking lots off 7th Avenue between 14th and 15th Street. This is where they had a live DJ spinning music, vendors selling motorcylce merchandise and services, food and cocktail vendors, live music, and entertainment to keep the party going all day.
The 2011 Ybor Thunder Bike Fest took place on November 11 & 12. The festivities kicked off at 3pm on Friday with 7th Avenue being closed for general traffic and started at 12 noon on Saturday. Each day was filled with activities under the close of the event at 11pm. After the event closed, bikers continued to cruise Ybor City and visit local businesses in the district.
If you are a motorcycle enthusiast or those who just love to ride or look at bikes, make sure you don't miss the event next year. We also have more photos of the event and motorcylces in the Ybor City 813area photo gallery. Ybor City created the perfect backdrop for this event as you can see in the photos. With the history and architecture along with the sunset views, there wasn't a better place for an event like this than Ybor City. While we look forward to the 2012 Ybor Thunder Bike Fest, we will continue to enjoy other events in Ybor City to pass the time.
Visit the Ybor Thunder Bike Festival website for more details at http://yborthunderbikefest.com/.
