Permit cancelled two days before motorcycle event
The Staff of Clutch and Chrome
May 3rd 2008
A motorcycle
event north of Chicago, Illinois was cancelled two days
before the event by local city officials with only a vague
reason given.
Organizers
of the Ironhorse Roundup Bike Show were sent notification on
May 2nd by The Villages of Grayslake that the permit for the
event starting on May 4th with an expected attendance of 40,000 was cancelled.
The previous
years attendance of 18,000 people had no reported incidents
or arrests according to organizers. The event
had been moved to local fairgrounds in anticipation of the
expected larger crowds, requiring a permit from The Villages
of Grayslake.
The reason
for the cancellation of the permit?
'Based upon
information obtained the Grayslake Police Department became
concerned about circumstances which threaten the health and public safety
of those attending the event and the people of Grayslake. In
light of this new information Grayslake felt adequate
protection could not be maintained and the cancelling of
this permit was in the best interests of the health and
safety of the public'.
Organizers
had ordered extra security for the event and its expected
larger crowd.
Reporters
inquiries went unanswered by Grayslake Mayor Timothy Perry
who declined to specify why the village canceled the
fairgrounds' permit for the show.
Seven bands
were set to play the event, including headliner Vince Neil,
formerly of Motley Crue as well as the vendors, food and
even a motorcycle blessing was arranged as an event.
According to local reports, Lake County Fair Association
board President David DeYoung said his organization spent
thousands of dollars preparing the property for the event.
The events
website carried this open apology, 'My sincerest apologies to all of the vendors, bikers, supporters of this event for all of the time and efforts
that have been put forth; I feel this is more of a discrimination against bikers instead of a threat. For anyone
that knows our organization you will be familiar with the attention to detail that we take in each and every
promotion that we do and at no time would we ever put anyone in harm’s way.
Due to circumstances out of our control with the outrageous cancellation of the Ironhorse Roundup.' It
was signed by Mark Khayat, organizer and owner of the local Austin’s Saloon & Eatery
which was a major sponsor of the event. |
