Bikers, beer garden idea hits roadblock

“The one comment we had last year was that participants would have liked to be able to have a beer. Buying beer at downtown restaurants meant they had to buy food, too,” noted Robertson.

He added that revenue from the proposed beer garden would help with this year’s estimated expenses of $241,226.

Staff-Sgt. Phil Barrett, head of the Digby RCMP detachment, said he supports the annual gathering of motorcyclists as a family event. But he says adding a beer garden would change the tone of the rally, and also result in the need for additional police officers.

Barrett said he would need to bring in three additional police officers from neighboring communities to handle a beer garden, and said getting a police car downtown through the motorcycles and the crowd would be problematic.

Coun. Jean Brittain also saw potential hazards with the possibility of thousands of people drinking near the waterfront.

Coun. Danny Harvieux echoed her comments, “The idea kind of scares me.”

Deputy mayor Sherri Lewis recalled council rejecting a similar proposal from the organizer of another event.

According to Robertson, the Wharf Rat Rally means $2.5 million to the local economy. Last year’s event drew 10,000 bikes and nearly 40,000 people to the area.