Modern Vespa

Thinking about spearheading an effort to host a scooter festival somewhere equidistant to Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, Texas. Thinking about early April to beat the heat. This would be an event for everyone, not just Texas scooterists.

Possibilities to consider:

1. Holding in conjunction with a current, established, non-two-wheeled festival to increase exposure and make use of/share existing infrastructure and events,

2. Contests such as: scooter rodeo, scooter judging contest, who came the furthest, whatever else folks want or can think of.

3. Side rides to the Shiner Brewery and/or Blue Bell Ice Cream factory

4. Scooter parade through town

5. Soliciting area (Austin, SA, Houston scooter shops to support/participate/sponsor/display etc.

6. Picnic/campfire

Ideally, a camping option would be available as well as hotels. Thinking of a 3-day festival. Arrival night or Friday morning with activities Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Wanted to gauge interest before giving this any more serious thought. For those who might be interested - some questions:

1. Should it be marketed as a Vespa event (with all scoots welcome), or as a scooter event?

2. Any ideas of what you'd enjoy doing, seeing or touring?

3. Any better part of the year to hold in lieu of early April (I can't do fall and won't do summer).

Thanks!

Jet Peddler

Wow, that's ambitious! Give you props for initiative. It's a LOT of work pulling things together...and I would think that even doing some of that would take a group of people to make it happen.

I got the bug a few years back to get some riders together in my area as the closest event I was aware of was two hours away. Actually was surprisingly successful...and we're on our 4th year. We've had 15 to 20 riders most years. I've had fun working on routes, location, stops, etc. which was engaging, but gets a bit more challenging finding restaurants lodging, etc that would appeal to folks.

A couple of years ago, someone in a town an hour from me was promoting a "Festa della Vespa" with group rides, meals, etc, expecting to fill downtown with Vespas. There was even a raffle for a 50cc Vespa. Frankly I was a bit envious that this event was going to be so awesome and I felt like I'd struggled to pull together a small bunch of riders. Well, it pretty much flopped. The guy obviously loved Vespas, but didn't own one, and was taking the "build it and they will come" approach. They didn't. Well, it was a good time, but mostly because I already knew most of the riders.

So, my advice, don't bite off more than you can handle. Do your research, maybe seek out and consult with others who have held similar events. Open it to any and all scooters....and whatever else shows up. Remember "Vespa" leaves out Piaggio for starters and severely handicaps you if you're looking for adequate numbers.

Good luck...great things can come from dreams. but research and planning, the down and dirty part of these things, is critical.

I'm way the hell out in west Texas, but it'd be great to have some sort of Vespa fest in Texas. I'd make an effort to participate.

Sounds great!

Any suggestions regarding "fest" content?

There was one n Fredericksburg last summer that was supposed to be first annual. Might check Texas Scooter Riders on Facebook.

Research already done and I'm attending. Thanks for the heads up though. They are repeating this year but it's a semi-organized event that wouldn't compete nor diminish another festival with adequate time separation in my opinion.

Interested?

I realize this is easier said than done for some people, depending on which part of the country you live in, but the best way to both get ideas for what kind of events you should have and to generate interest in your own rally, is to go to a few and hang out with the people there. One thing I know from a lot of experience in planning and organizing similar events is that it requires a lot more work than it may initially appear. But if everyone has a good time, it's all worthwhile. Just give some thought to whether you want to have pre-registration, t-shirts, patches, food, etc. Raffles are usually a big hit, but soliciting donations can be a lot of work.

Brendan

I do have a fair amount of experience planning and hosting festival type events. Used to run a fly-in for Cessna aircraft a number of years ago. I'm cognizant of all the work and BS involved, just trying to determine if there's enough interest to make it worthwhile.

Scratches chin....
Round trip would cover three new states...
Hmm.....

Sounds like we've now got enough people interested to throw a Frisbee around.

Anyone else?

Absolutely reach out to the "Texas United Scooter Club" on Facebook. It is a place for a lot of Texas Riders to meet up, and if your planning something in Texas, I'd start by gauging interest there. The whole point of that group was trying to connect the major cities with each other so people in Dallas know about Austin rallies and vice versa.

As far as the "Texas United Rally". The main point was trying to get people from different areas to "pass" the event back and forth north south and wherever in Texas. Kinda a Texas version of Amerivespa. A nice rally moving around the state that multiple clubs help with so no one gets burnt out doing an event 10 years in a row.

Last year was the first event and we were talking about doing one this year to go tubing. So when AF1 announced their scooter parade day ride to go tubing, well it would have been stupid not to jump aboard and put the two together. Your are correct though that this year is more of a camping and sat big ride thing and not a lot of the normal "rally" stuff. There is a group camping with others staying at hotels near the river. We will hang out Friday and Sunday, then Sat morning ride in to meet with the parade coming out of Austin.

I know there has been talk about next years coming back north to the DFW area in late May. But none of that has been confirmed yet. Might talk to some of the hosts and maybe instead of making your own event, join the planning group and help host the 2019 Texas United Rally. but if you wanna do your own thing, I understand that as well.


As far as suggestions for the event.

Scooter event or Vespa event. No matter what you call it, your gonna loose people. A "scooter" event will make non Vespa riders more willing to come, but you will alienate a portion of Vespa vintage riders. Then again, Vespa event open to all scooters might loose them as well. And a Vespa event all scoots welcome, no matter how much you say all scoots welcome, some still won't come that don't have Vespas. I would think more about sponsers. Lately I feel like other brands do more outreach in the US than Vespa. Both years I went to AmeriVespa there were 4-5 raffle bikes. 2 vintage from clubs, and two Kymco's. Piaggio/Vespa didn't donate any bike. So I would say "Scooter" event to be able to reach out to shops that carry all the brands of bikes.

Scooter Rodeo is fun, either Gymkhana, or Joust, or any of a dozen other games, all fun. Usually good for sat after the big group ride. People come back and hang out and camp and play around.

Parade through town, like "Parade" parade? Or pick a lunch spot on Sat group ride in the middle of town and take the group ride through town?

Depending on location, try to have 2 rides on Sat. Big bike ride, and small bike ride. I know alot of people on 250cc and up, "or 150cc wringing it out" like to get out of town and take 40-70 mile rides. And its nice to have a smaller in town ride for slower bikes. My favorite version of this the whole group rode into town for lunch, then split. Big bikes left town, small bikes cruised through town and hit a cool shop or two. Either photo ops, or antique store or whatever.

Camp fires are always nice.

Current established events can sometimes make getting camping or hotels harder, so depends on the area. Small towns may be hard to find room for us if there is a large event already going on.

Thats alot of stuff I know,
I have helped plan a couple of scooter events in Texas, if you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask me.

Oh, I'll add an idea I've had. Scooter judging is always weird. You get some choices no one understand because of a club picking a friend. If the host or "judges" do it. Make a sheet with whats being judged and make them fill it out. points for finish, rarity, paint job, custom work, how original it is "if vintage" So people know why things were picked.

Or

Do the contest all peoples choice. Make a slip with all the categories, best modern, vintage, rat bike, original, custom, or whatever you want. Slip it into everyone's grab bag at start of rally "all numbered so 1 per person". then give people a free raffle ticket when they submit their card. That will encourage people to actually fill it out.

I am envious of any area where there are more that 2 Vespa and/or scooter riders which is the situation my wife and I are in. Really looking forward to Amerivespa in Richmond!

A NH to TX ride for a three-day scooter fest sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I bet the wife would love it too!

What is DFW, chopped liver? 8)

Ha, no, it's just that if things are being organized out of San Antonio it would be wise to be close to home. Hadn't forgotten about you northerners!

Notherner!? Watch it buddy.

I'd vote Austin. Roughly equidistant and lots of cool stuff to do there. I'd imagine they probably have a fair scooter culture there too.

Let us know if you get anything going.

Ciao.

The hill country in spring or fall is always a great experience. You might consider having an event in Fredericksburg, Kerville, or maybe somewhere on the Frio river. Closer to San Antonio, New Braunfels is a great area.
Whereever you decide, I will try to be there.

Two important things to shoot for when starting a new festival with limited manpower and funding are:

1). A town that's big enough to hold you, yet small enough to want/need you. We'd be a gnat on Austin's pet fly. Too crowded and expensive may also turn some off.

2). Finding an existing, non-competing festival (that feels they may benefit from our inclusion) to tag along with for many obvious, and not so obvious reasons.

New Braunfels or maybe even Wimberly might be cool.

Another possibility may Be Brenham, TX, home of Blue Bell Ice Cream (think factory tour), and the town's German/beer-esque festival, Maifest, held in early May.

They have a parade, all sorts of fun stuff and the town is 16,500 in population. A number of reasonable hotels and places to camp.

Hmm...

http://www.maifest.org/

NB may also be a great choice. Love that town. Landa Park, a river, great restaurants...

The possibility of an annual scooter festival in Texas just took a major step foward!

Spoke at length with one of the board members of May Fest (a 138 year old German beer-sausage-oompah type festival that occurs the first weekend in May in Brenham, Texas), who is also in charge of the festival's parade.

She said she's 99.9% sure that the May Fest board would love to have us part of their festival. She said they have a large shaded area where we could locate for the duration (pitch pop-canopies, lawn chairs, etc.), there's plenty of affordable hotel space and camping available at two parks.

She said they'd love to have us as part of their parade and to have our scoots on display during the fest.

Sounds like the May Fest folks would roll out the red carpet for us and be very accommodating.

I also spoke with the owner of The Motorcycle Shop in San Antonio (Vespa dealer) who said they would like to be involved and would support the event.

Spoke with AF1 Racing in Austin who sound interested as well, but I have not yet spoken with the owner. Have left two messages with Vespa Houston but no response as of yet.

Now the question is, are there any other locations/fests to consider, who wants to help organize and run a fest (I refuse to do it all by my lonesome), and who all would be interested in coming to a 3-day scooter fest each year the first weekend in May?

Bump. Because interest is building.

And the groundwork is slowly being laid!

Spring time when the wildflowers are blooming some pretty rides from Brenham to Navasota, College Station. FM 105 is a popular ride.

Talk to Steve @ Scootersmith in Houston. His shop is involved with Houston Scooter Battalion and is probably the largest scooter shop in Houstonsells Genuine, SYM and Kymco plus an assortment of used scoots .

Not sure I can help but I definitely would like to attend. I am currently in Houston.

Will do. Thanks for the heads up.

He said, Scooter fest in Texas.....

Good idea to talk with Steve, at Scootersmiths.

Would be interested in a Brenham Wildflower fest, and think it would be a big hit. Only challenge would be determining when the wildflowers will be at their peak.

I don't know why I hadn't thought of that before.

USR has done several wildflower rides in the Brenham area.

Peak bluebonnet times are usually in March in these parts but can vary a month either way depending on rainfall and temperature.

The date being considered currently for the fest would be the first week in May to tie in with Brenham's Mai Fest, so odds are we'd miss the bluebonnet bloom.

We could certainly do a ride like cdwise mentions - I think it's a great idea.

A really good friend is the Statewide rep for Playa Tequila. Let me know when details get more concrete. She might be able to pull together a promotional tie in event at a local bar/restaurant.

Sounds good.

we'd be down for whatever...

miss the old Austin scooter rallies, "rally with no name", etc. We have so much fun at the slow races and Gymkhana.

Wonderful. Who would be the point of contact at AF1?

Thanks.

I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to ride country roads without dodging oilfield traffic and tumbleweeds.

lots of cool backroads from Austin to Luckenbach or Fredriksberg.. we've taken our Ural sidecar rig on lots of them, that rig likes 60mph or less, so the same as what a 150cc scoot can do. At the last Austin scooter rally, we did backroads to Wimberley

None of that to be found in the Texas Hill Country, or in the Brenham area for that matter.

I've driven a fair number of hill country roads, and I agree that scootering such roads would be a wonderful experience!

What about Bastrop? There's a state park, hotels, and camp sites. It's close enough to other towns like Lockhart for BBQ or Luling for the original Buc-ee's. Somerville Lake is also nearby. Lots of nice roads to Giddings and La Grange. I think it would make for a great location.