Initially it looked like it would be a small crowd at the Winchester Bike Night, but many were just waiting to make sure the event would proceed as scheduled. Once that happened, the bikes just kept coming, filling both the main streets and a few of the side streets as well. Tinkess Photo

WINCHESTER – For those looking forward to the 2024 version of Winchester Bike Night, it must have felt like a bit of déjà vu in the hours leading up to the 5:00 p.m. start time. There was a risk of rain, and weather warnings in the surrounding area, but the bad weather held off and Bike Night number one of 2024 went off without a hitch.

Last year the extremely popular event was cancelled every month except September and organizers were hoping for a bit more cooperation from Mother Nature this time around.

Initially it looked like it would be a small crowd, but many were just waiting to make sure the event would proceed as scheduled. Once that happened, the bikes just kept coming, filling both the main streets and a few of the side streets as well. And if you didn’t have a Harley or a Honda, it didn’t matter. Some came by car, some on foot, and some who lived close by just walked out the front door. It was time to eat, socialize, and listen to some oh, so familiar tunes courtesy of Eddie and the Stingrays.

Event organizer Vince Zandbelt and the rest of his committee could be seen throughout the evening, making sure that everything was going as planned. He gives a lot of credit to the community, both residents and businesses, for making Bike Night one of the community’s most anticipated events.

“The support is building; it just keeps growing,” said Zandbelt. “And the business community has really stepped up and they see the amount of people coming here and the community support, and they want to be a part of that. All the things we’ve gotten from our business community is awesome.”

Often, when alcohol is served at outdoor events, there can be problems, but that hasn’t been an issue for Bike Night.  Zandbelt says that all comes down to preparation.

“We just met with our liquor inspectors,” he said, and we went through what we do to prepare. We have the OPP patrolling the area here. So, we pay for that. Our firemen work outside the gate. And when the police are here, most times they have an auxiliary come with them so there’s a lot of police presence. We are also a committee of counsel, so everything is done the way they want things done. We follow all the rules and regulations and guidelines.

“And also, this is a family fun event,” he adds. “We have a lot of kids that participate. We have great alcohol vendors that, you know, they’re not serving minors. We keep it all legit, above board, and everybody’s in a good mood because it is a Thursday night.”

Zandbelt says that they find that being a midweek event adds to the event’s popularity. It is a bit of a break that is far enough away from the weekend that people can enjoy it and not be thinking about what they’re doing and where they are going on the weekend.

Safety is always at the forefront when you have people travelling to participate in an event like Bike Night, and Zandbelt says he knows it is frustrating when they must cancel.

“There’s so many people that want to come here and they feel frustrated when they can’t, which is a testament to how well the job is being done,” said Zandbelt. “All our committee is doing well, and ultimately they are volunteers, I’m going to just guesstimate that we’re probably reaching about 60 volunteers tonight, working gates, parking bikes, tagging people, just making this whole show run.”

This is the fourth year for Bike Night. It started in 2019 but it didn’t run in 2020, or 2021due to Covid. They got back on track in 2022, and 2023, and now 2024 is off to a great start, with the first June event not to be cancelled. They are hoping their good luck will continue in July, August and September.