Biketoberfest - Daytona Beach's Fall Motorcycle Festival

I love it when the fall comes to Florida and things start to cool down. Everyone is ready to get outdoors and enjoy all the fairs and festivals that occur this time of year. One of my favorite such events is Biketoberfest. Every year in October Daytona Beach becomes, once again, a Mecca for motorcycle enthusiast. Biketoberfest is shorter than Bike week, it’s held over a long weekend, and it’s just as fun and interesting. I’ve lived in Florida for over 20 years now and have taken pictures of Biketoberfest several times; last year was the first time however that we stay over. We booked our room early so it was very reasonably priced I think that’s key; get room early number one so there are rooms available but two so you can get a deal before the rates go up. There are a lot of rooms up and down the famous Daytona Strip but remember there are going to be over an estimated 150,000 bike and bikers there so the sooner you can book the better. So once you get there you have to head to Main Street there are a few other places to have fun but party central is definitely Main Street, it’s the main drag and still the best place to watch all the bikes and people going by. The first night of Biketoberfest there are several places to go called welcome centers where you can pick up a complete schedule of all events, activities and a lot of other information. One of the first places we went when we got there was to the world famous Daytona Speedway. The Speedway hosts several events including several bike races and swap meets; there is always something going on in the vast parking area there people buy and selling all sorts of things from t-shirt to tires. Some 2500 vendors or so are there any given year with loads of things to give away.

Last year when we were there they had these scantly clad ‘Wild Turkey Girls’ walking around Dirty Harry’s with trays of either Turkey shots or turkey and coke, handing them out. Every where you look there are girls in booths calling to you to came buy a drink or shot and let’s just say it’s a goo thing it’s been fairly warm these last couple of Octobers or they would have been very cold. Dirty Harry’s is a pretty popular place they have a lot of bikini contests there two or three a day and then at night it’s the main event contests and lets just say that after a day in the sun of drinking and partying most of the girls are in a pretty uninhibited place and open to the Emcee's suggestions which as you can imagine get wilder as the night goes on.

Some other places to stop by on Main Street are Froggy’s Saloon, Cruisin Café which is on the corner of A1A and Main Street an ideal spot to watch the happenings. The Hogs Breath Saloon is a local favorite all year round and the Bank & Blues Club has two stories so you can people watch from upstairs and enjoy the rock and roll downstairs. The building is actually an old bank that’s been ‘reformed’. Bruce Rossmeyer’s Biketoberfest at Destination Daytona in nearby Ormond Beach is fast becoming a big part of Biketoberfest too. The have a huge showroom of bikes and during the fest that place transform into a virtual bikers village. They too have contests, food, live music day and night, girls in booths offering beer and booze, people and bikes everywhere. Another place that’s becoming very popular is the Cabbage Patch Bar in nearby Samsula. They have all the usual t-shirt and hot buns contest but their becoming kind of famous for something a little different – coleslaw wrestling. This place gets wild and it’s a lot of fun.