Americade
| Americade | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Motorcycle rally |
| Dates | First week in June |
| Location(s) | Lake George village, New York, United States |
| Founded | May 1983 |
| Founder | Bill Dutcher |
| Most recent | June 6–10, 2016 |
| Next event | June 5–10, 2017 |
| Attendance | 60,000+ (2007) |
| Website | |
| americade |
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Americade is a week-long motorcycle rally that is held during the first full week of June. The headquarters and location of many rally activities are in Lake George village, New York. The event is open to all motorcyclists and brand and type of motorcycles, and in the late 1990s attracted around 50,000 people annually, which grew to over 60,000 by 2007. Americade is billed by its organizer as the "World's Largest Motorcycle Touring Rally", and is distinguished from events such as Daytona Bike Week by its emphasis on motorcycle touring and by its organization and peacefulness.
Attendees participate in demo rides from all of the major manufacturers, boat cruises, motorcycle judging, and group rides called "MiniTours" to various destinations in New York and Vermont.
Americade also offers a large motorcycle trade show, TourExpo, located in two locations in Lake George: Million Dollar Beach and The Forum.
May 1983 was the first "cade" in the east coast. Veteran motorcyclist Bill Dutcher (a Harvard graduate), and a small staff, hosted "Aspencade East" in Lake George, NY. The event's headquarters were at Roaring Brook Ranch, from which most of the demo rides departed.
The TourExpo tradeshow was held at the Glens Falls Civic Center, approximately 10 miles (16 km) to the south. This first event drew over 2,000.
Since 1971, there had been an Aspencade touring motorcycle rally in Ruidoso, New Mexico. The name came from an annual civic festival, which celebrated the changing colors of the aspen (birch) trees. Dutcher arranged with Aspencade organizer Til Thompson to use the Aspencade name for the eastern touring rally, which started out as Aspencade East.
In 1986, "Aspencade East" became "Americade," because the new name better signified the multibrand national-sized rally it had become. By 1986, total attendance at this event was nearly 10,000. The name Americade was suggested by the organizer's wife, Gini Dutcher.
By 1986, the TourExpo tradeshow had been relocated to Lake George village, to keep it closer to the motels and riding activities. Initially located halfway down Beach Road in a large gravel parking lot, in 1994 TourExpo was relocated to the larger, dust-free quarters, which it now occupies at Million Dollar Beach Parking Lot. This facility is owned by the State of New York, from which Americade and TourExpo rent this property.
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Wikipedia