having the festival downtown. He said, ‘I came here from Texas and I love this event. What can I do to help?’ We talked back and forth, throwing out ideas and he said, ‘I’m going to do a $10 dinner. All the proceeds will go to your charity. We will also have some live music and a bike wash as well. I just want to have the bikers come here and feel welcome. There’s a parking lot where parking the motorcycles will be quick and easy.’” The address for you to write down is: 8389 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. When you meet Don Schoenburg, please be sure to let him know you read about his generosity in Born To Ride magazine! “One huge event that keeps growing and growing every year is the Sporting Clay Tournament. This will be held at the Ancient Oak Gun Club (16800 SR 64 East, Lakewood Ranch) on Thursday. “This year in keeping the events in Lakewood Ranch, this will be held at the Ancient Oak Gun Club. Everyone that attends has a great time and looks forward to participating in it!” You’ve been doing this for 19 years, Lucy! What makes Thunder By The Bay different from other festivals in Florida? “Other than location issues that we dealt with, we are very thankful to say that this event is still free and open to the public. We want to keep this free. Our way to make money for the charity is that folks patronize the bars, attending the other TBTB events, and spend money with our vendors so they (the vendors) can come back year after year.” Need some extra pocket change? Finz Finds is doing another charity ride on Saturday morning (January 7). This ride is going to be totally different this year. The ride is actually going to start at the offices of the Suncoast Charities. Lucy added, “Z105, BTR 16 | BORNTORIDE.COM
one of our major media sponsors, will be broadcasting and playing classic rock outside our office. In addition, we’re having special needs clients from all five agencies Suncoast Charities supports at registration to greet all riders. Everyone looks forward to meeting the riders that are coming in. We want people to see where the money goes, see the clients that we are serving, and ask lots of questions about each agency.” Registration is from 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. and the cost is $20 per rider. When riders leave for the run on Saturday, there will be three stops: Rossiter’s HarleyDavidson, The Ranch Grill, and Manatee Harley-Davidson. Live music will be at all the stops, and both dealerships will be giving a free gift to each registered rider (while supplies last) AND 20% off one item at their stores! There will be free hot dogs, and free craft beers at the dealerships, too! Riders will come back to the festival (last bike in at 3:00 p.m.) drawing the various winners’ name out of a $4,000 pot! Ten $100 winners, five $200 winners, two $500 winners, and one $1,000 winner. If you can’t go on the ride but want to donate, you can do this via the website! Another new item this year is VIP packages! “Many people were asking about VIP packages for all the great acts we have playing that weekend with special interest for Blue Öyster Cult. They didn’t want to miss anything and wanted to get some good seating. We talked about it and decided that this was another great way to support the charity by providing VIP packages. Anyone purchasing a VIP ticket on Saturday or Sunday is guaranteed a great seat in a private tent, complimentary food, and a designated cash bar. Only 100 tickets will
be sold each day. Once they are sold, they are sold. Our Sponsors will be in this area as well.” It’s important to mention the great sponsors of Thunder By The Bay: Sarasota Ford, Rossiter’s and Manatee River HarleyDavidson dealerships, The Premier Sports Campus at Lakewood Ranch, SchroederManatee Ranch/LWR Communities, Gold Coast Eagle Distributing and Budweiser, Wittmer and Linehan Law Firm, The Loaded Barrel, FCCI Insurance Group, and the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Always with Born To Ride magazine, Thunder By The Bay has been an event all the staff look forward to attending. This year is no different! Why Born To Ride, Lucy? “You are the best vehicle to get the word out about this event. Born To Ride is everywhere! If you don’t pick up the magazine, you can still see it on TV. The reach is also out of state. To us, it was the best thing. The Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau provided us with a marketing grant. We could spend that grant money with any media outlet we wanted to. We chose Born To Ride because you guys bring people in from outside of the county to this event. In fact, every year, we do an Economic Impact Study. Last year, over 50% of the people that came, came outside of the county area. The economic impact was $8.8 million in revenue to the area and generated an estimated 8,400 room nights!” Thank you, Lucy, for taking the time in talking with me about Thunder By The Bay 2017 and all the great things that will be happening January 5 – 8! See you there! Susan Hurst
What: Thunder By The Bay, When: January 5 – 8, 2017, Where: Lakewood Ranch Sports Complex