Bike Fest Oz! will really Rock in 2023!

Organisers of the international motorcycle festival, Bike Fest Oz!, initially intended to run mostly south of the Qld/NSW border in August next year, and centred largely in the Tweed Shire, have announced a major change of venue and dates for their inaugural event.

“Due to a variety of factors, we’re announcing a date change, but one that truly upgrades and ‘supercharges’ the event,” said the Kingscliff-based organisers in a statement just released today.

“Just lately we’ve become increasingly concerned at the growing resistance — and even hostility — from sections of local officialdom, and others, particularly in and around the Tweed area,” they said. “While we always expected that inviting large groups of motorcycle enthusiasts and their families to join together in a celebration of all things motorcycling might raise some issues in some areas, the difficulties — and even open hostility — we’ve encountered, in particular from Green elements and activists within the local Council, have caused us to have a major rethink.

“In on-going and quite detailed discussions with Council, it has been made very clear to us that Council regards motorcycles and any associated events as not aligning with their ‘sustainability’ aims, so we’ve taken the position that the Council position is actually ‘unsustainable’ as far as our many thousands of visitors goes.

“So, in conjunction with well-connected and influential local motorcyclists who share our passion for making Bike Fest Oz! Australasia’s biggest and best celebration of all things motorcycling, we’ve reluctantly decided on a slight shift in location and a change of dates from August 16-20 to June 7 to 11, 2023. But in making the change, we’re actually guaranteeing that our supporters and participants are going to have a much, much wider choice of events, entertainment and fun activities to keep them fully engaged for the full five days,” said a spokesperson.

As organisers pointed out, the new dates coincide perfectly with another major enthusiast event and festival, which has already logged up a number of years attracting and entertaining bike and car fans to the Qld-NSW border area.

“It turns out that Cooly Rocks On is held at Coolangatta, on the Queensland side of the border, over five days in June each year. It also incorporates a lot of rock ‘n’ roll, entertainment and other events, all of which BFO! 2023 visitors can choose to check out while they’re in the area also enjoying and participating in our event and various special activities. And the new dates are also right, smack in the middle of a tourism low season, so apart from the popular centres of Coolangatta and nearby Tweed, tourist numbers are down and accommodation rates are, for the most part, very reasonable in the surrounding areas.

“We firstly sincerely apologise for any inconvenience to our registered participants, who may have already made plans and reservations for our original dates, but really, we were left with little to no choice ultimately, as we had no confidence whatsoever that certain local authorities and organisations would genuinely welcome our many thousands of BFO! visitors,” said organisers. “We’d engaged with them all openly and honestly from the start of the process, but ultimately – and as were warned by various locals — we just didn’t feel that they were genuinely supportive of what we were focused on achieving as far as developing a long-term international motorcycle festival for all riders and all bikes goes. And having official support from the NSW authorities in doubt was just too big a risk to take as far as the BFO! team was concerned.

“We also feel really sorry for the many local businesses, charities and other community groups in and around the NSW centres of Murwillumbah, Kingscliff and Cabarita and the rest of the Tweed, who have been so supportive and welcoming of BFO! as we’ve shared our plans for the Festival. But in good conscience, we simply couldn’t continue to place any confidence in having Council and other support for locating the Festival entirely south of the Qld-NSW border. It’s a real shame as we’ve had so much local support from the ratepayers and businesses who, ironically, actually pay the Council’s wages via their rates etc.”

Organisers explained that while there might still be smaller non-official supporting BFO! events in some areas of far-north NSW, the vast majority of the focus and headquarters for the event will now shift across the border to Qld, where BFO! is already enjoying very strong local support and is far more likely to be accepted as a major and on-going long-term legacy event and boost to the local economy, businesses, charities and community groups.

“We’ve made an initial five-year commitment to the Festival and actually believe we’ve turned a negative into a positive by the date and slight location shift as we’ve also engaged with the local motorcycle industry on the Gold Coast, which includes the motorcycle shop epicentre and hub of Lawrence Drive, in Nerang, and there is already enormous and growing support for our date/location shift there,” he said.

“In fact, we’ve already had extensive talks about incorporating a mini ‘festival within a festival’ in and around the main motorcycle centre of Nerang as part of our Official Bike Fest Oz! Poker Run and other Festival activities.”

The date for the Poker Run has now been changed to Friday, June 9 and BFO! 2023 organisers have also settled on the locations, which will take in some spectacular local rides and scenery and actually briefly cross the border.

Discussions have already taken place with the various hosts of each stop, including the start point of the iconic and very popular motorcycle hangout of the Iron & Resin Garage combined bike shop/café/bar at Currumbin just north of Coolangatta. Entered riders and passengers will meet here and enjoy a breakfast stop and entertainment at the start of the Run, after which they will head briefly into northern NSW for the second stop and poker card near the historic Chillingham Store and Hotel, which has just celebrated its centenary.

From here, riders will head north to enjoy a very scenic ride on the way to the Advancetown Hotel, another very popular motorcycle hangout, which is located in the Hinterland foothills and overlooks the spectacular Gold Coast.

After collecting their third card, riders will then head towards the coast for the fourth stop at the motorcycle epicentre of Lawrence Drive, Nerang, which houses nearly all of the major motorcycle shops and brands in south-east Qld. Special arrangements are being made to ensure riders of all denominations will be made to feel very welcome here.

From Nerang, it will be a leisurely run up the M1 Princes Highway, taking the Coomera turnoff and heading up into the Hinterland foothills to the very scenic and spectacular Gold Coast Motor Museum at Upper Coomera, where hosts and hardcore bike and car enthusiasts, Carl and Grant Amor will welcome us for an afternoon of great entertainment, food and refreshment from their on-site Stanley’s Bar and Restaurant. Co-hosts for the final stop and prizegiving will be great Bike Fest Oz! supporters, Gasoline Alley Harley-Davidson.

“We’ve always said that no major changes can take place after December 31, and taking all things into account, and despite the inconvenience and disappointment that some might experience as a result of our rescheduling and relocating of the inaugural Bike Fest Oz! 2023 motorcycle festival, we truly believe this event will be a fantastic celebration of motorcycling for all Australasian motorcycle enthusiasts. We’re absolutely determined to make sure the inaugural Festival is as engaging and welcoming as possible and given that our dates will coincide with the fantastic and famous Cooly Rocks On festival, we’re even more confident that attending the inaugural Bike Fest Oz! 2023 will encourage attendees to spread the word and bring even more riders to the 2024 Festival, which we’ve tentatively dedicated to Italian Stallions, with a focus on all things Italian, including the rich Italian motorcycle culture and the even richer Italian dedication to food and wine,” said organisers.