Harley Davidson bikers
The return of the Tall Ships to Waterford next year will draw huge crowds to the city and now another major, four-day festival has been secured that will see over 10,000 bike enthusiasts from all over Europe converge on the South East capital.
A four-day, international Harley Davidson Motorbike Festival has been arranged for May 2013 and will take place on WIT’s Carriganore Campus. Among those expected are many famous Harley Davidson enthusiasts from the world of music, television and film. And the influx is expected to give a major financial boost of €5m to the city and surrounding areas.
The Waterford city-based Harley Davidson Club Ireland secured the festival following a successful presentation in London last Saturday to the Federation of Harley Davidson Clubs of Europe (FHDCE). This will the first time that the FHDC ‘Super Rally’ will be held in this country since its inception in the 1960s.
The London presentation was made by Hugh Breslin, President of Harley Davidson Club Ireland. A native of Donegal who is employed at WIT, Mr Breslin estimates that the festival will generate considerable cash amounts in the local economy.
At present, Waterford has 35 members in its Harley Davidson Club Ireland and it is already confirmed that they will welcome fellow members from clubs in Britain, Spain, France Greece, Estonia, Finland and Russia who will make their way to Waterford for the event.
While the main site will be at Carriganore, there will also be a major display of bikes on The Quay where a weekend on the lines of the recent Harvest Festival is planned. There will be three music stages at the WIT campus catering for rock music, Traditional Irish and top cover bands like The Doors and Led Zeppelin.
Failte Ireland, Waterford City Council, Waterford County Council and WIT are very enthusiastic about the event and are assisting in the planning. The new Bypass makes access easy to Carriganore for traffic management purposes.
