Members of the Harley Owners Group will attend a block party Saturday at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.
View full sizeCarmen Rinaldo, of Camillus, and fellow members of the New York State Harley Owners Group start their engines Thursday as they prepare take part in a motorcade from the Holiday Inn in Liverpool to the Nice-N-Easy store on Route 31 in Clay. They held a presentation there honoring the chain and Budweiser for being their two largest event sponsors. Clay, NY -- More than 2,000 people will be riding their Harley Davidson motorcycles in Central New York this weekend for the New York State Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.) rally.
Most of the rally events will take place at the Holiday Inn on Electronics Parkway in Salina. H.O.G members rallied at the Nice N Easy at Route 31 and Henry Clay Boulevard, in Clay, on Thursday.
Three groups of 100 motorcycles will leave the hotel starting at 8 a.m. today. They will stop at Ithaca Harley Davidson, then head to Watkins Glen race track around 11:40 a.m. where they will take “hot laps” — driving at speeds in the triple-digits.
“It’s a blast because you’re sure no animals are going to come out in front of you and nobody is going to make that left hand turn in front of you,” said rally coordinator Dick Davidson. “This is where you can have fun.”
The motorcyclists will then have lunch at the Wagner Wineries and stop at Geneva Harley Davidson before returning to the rally site. Fireworks are planned for 10 p.m. today at the Holiday Inn.
The public is invited to a vendor mall at the rally site today and Saturday. They’re also invited to stop by the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que block party starting at 6 p.m. Saturday. Motorcyclists will ride from the rally site, down Hiawatha Boulevard to North Salina Street to North Franklin Street.
“The purpose of the rally is to ride and have fun,” said Davidson, who owns a Harley Road King. “We have rides planned all through the weekend. It’s beautiful area to ride in.”
Davidson, who lives in Manlius, asked other drivers to keep an eye out and be courteous to the thousands of motorcyclists on the road this weekend. “These people are visiting the Syracuse area,” he said. “There are going to be a lot more motorcyclists and a lot of them won’t be from this area or this country.”
The rally is expected to pump about $1 million into the local economy, Davidson said.
Contact Catie O’Toole at cotoole@syracuse.com or 470-2134.