Roy Reynolds and DeWitt Phillips

With a passion for community, hundreds of volunteers work thousands of hours each year planning and presenting the Bainbridge Bikefest event. Roy Reynolds is one of those who has been involved with Bikefest since it first started over 10 years ago.
 
Reynolds was guest speaker at a recent Kiwanis meeting. Bainbridge Bikefest is a non-profit comprised of 11 board members, a core group of 30-40 and 100s of volunteers that work the event not only from the immediate area but also from other states.
 
The event was formed to help others, and Reynolds stated that over the years they have focused on helping crippled children  through the Shriners Club, helping feed, cloth and shelter families through the Salvation Army, and helping cure juvenile diabetes through the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Reynolds stated that as of now over $350,000 have been given to those organizations.

On the more local level, Reynolds stated that they have selected a variety of organizations and individuals and Bikefest has given over $200,000 to them.

Reynolds said that one way to determine whether or not a person should get involved with Bikefest is to come to the Bikefest Awards Banquet. With emotion in his voice, Reynolds told the club that when you listen to a mother thank them for giving them hope for their child it's hard not to become a part of Bikefest.
 
The local economic impact of Bikefest, according to Reynolds, has also proven to be beneficial to our area and Reynolds hopes that continues and also improves.

Reynolds also emphasized that there are parts of Bikefest that are free. One of those is the Veterans Appreciation Ceremony that is held on the Friday during Bikefest at 5:30pm. Reynolds stated that this became the 3rd Friday in September is National POW/MIA Remembrance Day. This event is held at Willis Park and Reynolds stated that he doesn't understand why there aren't more local people that attend.

Reynolds asked the Kiwanians to spread the word throughout the community to encourage them to go to the ceremony and personally thank the veterans for their service. This year's ceremony will be Friday, September 19th.
 
Another free event also occurs in Willis Park on Saturday morning. This is the bike show with hundreds of beautiful and unique bikes surrounding the park. This is not only a free event but a family event.
The last event of the Bikefest weekend is also another free event. Sunday morning there is a worship service that is held on the Bikefest grounds. These services are held at 9:30 am.

Today, Reynolds stated, Bikefest faces competition from the Thunder Beach event held during the same weekend. Reynolds said that while Thunder Beach got off to a slow start, Bainbridge last year had 5,000 attendees while Thunder Beach had over 100,000. The difference in numbers, according to Reynolds, is that Panama Beach is focused on tourism. He said that every hospitality business has special activities for the bikers and hopes that those same types of businesses in Bainbridge does the same.

Reynolds stated that it will take the whole community, businesses, organizations, law enforcement, to help Bikefest become what it could be and what it could grow into.

Next year Bikefest will be on their own property. This year BikeFest will be held at Commodore Industrial Park Wednesday, September 17th, through Sunday, September 21th.