2007 Motorcycle Expo

The 16th Indiana Motorcycle Expo was held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on February 22-25, 2007. This year was a spectacular show as they provided vendors for all types of cycling. The wide selection and awesome deals on motorcycles, personal watercraft, all-terrain vehicles, go-carts, accessories and apparel were too many to mention let alone see. The Tiny Tots Test Track gave children the opportunity to test their dirt bike riding skills in a safe environment. Not only was this event humorous but also inspirational in seeing our future learning how to ride.

Yamaha's ATV Challenge is an indoor course designed to give consumers an opportunity to test drive an ATV. It had everything from logs, rocks, hills and tight turns. The only thing kissing was the bog run...although I don't think I'd be the one to help clean up. It was fun to watch people drive for obviously the first time and those that were skilled.

They also had the Annual Bikers Showcase Contest with over $3,000 in prizes. There were some truly remarkable bikes on display. The contest winner was announced Sunday, the 25th.


The Indiana Patriot Guard was also present this year. Mike Venne (vennem) tackled the monstrous challenge of coordinating not only the booth space but the people to man the booth. This was a major task as we had 4 days of the Expo to attend. Mike did a wonderful job of organizing this event. As you can see from the picture above, it turned out really nice. Indiana Patriot Guard keeps setting the standards!

Here are some snippets of Mike's post in the Completed Missions section of the forums. Mike has graciously given me permission to use his post. The forum link is listed at the bottom.

First I'll start with the tangible numbers, We sold 24 calendars, 66 Indiana PGR patches, 25 decals, 7 USS Indianapolis Hats, 2 of the new Indiana PGR Beanies (available Sunday only) and 39 cool ties. We had some 'Keep the change' and some outright donations to help with the Care Packages. Not sure what total costs were for the Indiana PGR items sold, but it should wind up with a good amount to help support the troops.

Richard and Chief thanks for letting me pursue the idea of a booth at the expo. While it's easy to have an idea, we all need to opportunity it follow them though from time to time. Bernie, thanks for everything you did and all your time.

For everyone that volunteered to work, you made it easy to set the schedule and make sure there were enough workers to man the booth at all times. I hope you found the experience rewarding.

Kyra, Lobo, Gadget, appreciate the extra time spent Thursday with the setup. You put together a great looking display. Rick, Gadget, Rosie, Tracy, Hoss, Gary and Melody great job on the tear down. They closed the expo at 4:55 and at 5:09 I was driving out the fairgrounds. What more can I say, It wasn't something one or two people could handle it took 32 of you. In fact more than that, because some of you stopped by so to all of you thanks. You jumped right in, you knew what to do and you did it well. Maverick, as they say, I think you could sell a freezer to an eskimo.

I must say I think I missed a heck of a time Sat afternoon. Batesville bunch, sorry the weather slowed things down but things for filling the late shift Saturday. Everyone that was out in the weather, I pray you had a safe eventless trip home. Dale Garrett asked me how I ended up doing this and I told him it was shortly preceded by a " gee, somebody oughta....." Once again thanks to everyone that stepped in and helped. You're a great group of people and I enjoyed working with you. Mike (vennem)

Make sure you block out your calendar for 2008! Rumor has it that next year will be at the Convention Center. That means more room and more events, bikes , apparel and shows. And of course, you'll need to sign up to help man the booth!

Originally posted on the PGR Forum.