Harley Bike Week, The Motorcycle rally
Myrtle Beach Bike Week, also called “Harley Bike Week” is a week-long motorcycle rally that started in 1940 and, until 2008, attracted around 200,000 visitors to the city every May. Black Bike Week, founded in 1980, is the next week and is the largest African American motorcycle rally in the US and attracts almost twice as many visitors. The event was created in response to a history of discrimination against African-American visitors and riders to the Grand Strand.
The Myrtle Beach government has taken recent steps to prevent all sanctioned motorcycle events within the city in response to controversy including accusations of racism by African-American riders during their event and complaints of lawlessness and poor behavior during all highly attended events. Several lawsuits by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) against Myrtle Beach businesses were settled with agreements that discrimination cease, compensation be given to some plaintiffs, and employees be given diversity training. The NAACP suit against the City of Myrtle Beach was settled in 2006 without the city paying damages, but with the agreement police would use the same traffic control rules during both the black and the white motorcycle rallies. A motorcycle helmet requirement created by the city to discourage motorcycle rallies has been challenged, by a group of motorcyclists and a group of Myrtle Beach merchants who opposed the city’s anti-motorcycle tourism policy, in the South Carolina Supreme Court, who have not yet issued a judgment. There are also resorts for golf in Myrtle Beach. It’s a nice move to go to http://www.ttimesonly.com and check out for golf packages in Myrtle Beach.
