2019 Winchester Bike Night before the pandemic. Courtesy Photo
WINCHESTER – The Winchester Downtown Rehabilitation committee is looking forward to a busy summer of the Winchester Bike Nights on their main street.
The first Bike Night of the summer originally planned for June 9 was cancelled because of a pending summer storm.
The next one is planned for July 14.
The pandemic forced the popular event to hold off for two years and organizers are looking forward to having them back.
Bike Night is slated for Winchester’s Main Street on the second Thursday of each month. The venue will feature live music along with great food and two distilleries selling their products. The band is called Eastbound of Bytown.
A new and interesting feature of Bike Night is the Manufactures on Main Feature. Each month the event will feature a different bike manufacture and their product. The first Bike Night was supposed to have featured the Harley Davidson company but because the event was cancelled, that manufacture has been shifted to September. At the July 14 event, the Manufactures on Main will feature Kolman’s Wheelsport.
Their exhibit will be at the corner of Main and St. Lawrence; check out the bikes and say hello to their staff.
Another interesting moment at the upcoming Bike Night will be the unveiling of a special project that Winchester residents are sure to appreciate and enjoy. The rehabilitation committee has three different groups that sponsored three unique gifts to their community.
The two breweries at the event are Windmill Breweries from Prescott and Humble Beginnings from Ingleside.
“We are going to do coolers as well,” said Vince Zandbelt a revitalization committee member.
“We are reacting to a comment that not everyone likes beer. Foodland will be providing water.”
The municipality has arranged for a temporary road closure from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Winchester’s Main Street from Mill Street to Louise Street and St. Lawrence Street to Caleb Street.
Each Bike Night will have a group that it donates to. The House of Lazarus is the organization featured this time around.
Another special feature of Bike Night is a focus on a particular Motorcycle. For this July event Zandbelt is featuring his father’s refurbished 1956 DKW motorcycle.
A new idea intending to make going to Bike Night more fun and relaxing, is a shuttle service that will run from the Winchester Arena parking lot up to the events on Main Street.
Zandbelt said, “We have room for all of the bikes uptown, but if everybody comes by car to see the bikes or hear the music, there will not be a lot of room uptown. We thought we have the arena, why not use that?”
He said it is a family fun event so the easier it is to go without having to worry about finding a parking spot the more fun the event will be for everyone.
Joseph Morin is the Editor of the Eastern Ontario AgriNews, and the Record. He is, despite years of practice, determined to eventually play the guitar properly. He has served the Eastern Ontario community as a news editor, and journalist for the past 25 years with the Iroquois Chieftain, Kemptville Advance, West Carleton Review, and Ottawa Carleton Review in Manotick. He has never met a book he did not like.
