Thunder’s echoes: Bikers, vendors, roll out after big weekend

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Lance Bryan of Alabama breaks down a vendor stand as Thunder in the Valley draws to a close on Sunday evening. David Hurst
After days of streets packed with bikers, a lone motorcyclist on the Walnut Street bridge prepares to turn onto Washington Street. David Hurst

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June 24, 2012

Thunder’s echoes: Bikers, vendors, roll out after big weekend

David Hurst dhurst@tribdem.com The Tribune-Democrat Sun Jun 24, 2012, 11:18 PM EDT

— Johnstown’s 15th Thunder in the Valley ended Sunday the way it started three days earlier: Under clear blue skies, with a flood of roaring engines and vendor trucks rumbling through the city, this time packed up after another year.

While Greater Johnstown Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Lisa Rager was still tallying numbers from the weekend event, signs pointed to another record year, she said.

Mother Nature deserved some of the credit, she added.

“This is the first year I can think of where we didn’t get a drop of rain. The heat and humidity cleared out just in time for the events on Friday and Saturday,” she added. “It was great.”

The addition of the newly finished Peoples Natural Gas Park came in handy, Rager said.

“Honestly, if we didn’t have that extra venue, I’m not sure how we would have been able to hold everyone,” she said.

The former Festival Park hosted the Broken Spoke Saloon, about a dozen vendors and live music all weekend.

It joined the Train Station, which hosted the New Riders of the Purple Sage on Saturday, and Gazebo Park, as live venues.

Of course, there was still plenty to see Sunday.

Bands plugged in at all three locations until early Sunday evening.

George Zadik of New Florence stayed for Ole 97, a Johnny Cash tribute band.

He said his biking days were behind him “But I still enjoy the scene.”

“This a good event,” Zadik said. “I come back every year.”

He left impressed by the newly finished Peoples Natural Gas Park, which debuted a week earlier and made its first Thunder appearance this weekend.

“They put a lot of money into this, I bet,” he said, calling the work a job well done.

Jim Kleban of Windber agreed.

The new venue fits nicely into the former Bethlehem Steel site – and with Thunder, Johnstown’s largest event, he added.

“You go to other rallies, a lot of them are at beaches, and they offer what they have. But I think we really have something different to offer,” he added. The mountains, the forests, the hills and the mills. It all sort of ties together right here at this park.”

Many vendors packing up Sunday reported good business through the weekend.

But that was no surprise to Cal Leverett of Armory, Miss., who was selling custom-fit “Chubby Cup” beverage holders made for cruiser and touring cycles.

There are about 1,600 rallies across the country each year, but Leverett whittles that list down to 48 big ones.

“I go all over the country,” he said, calling Thunder a top midsize rally. “I’ve been coming back for the past three years because it’s a good one.”

Things didn’t go as well for Nami Spall, another third-year vendor from Atlanta.

“A lot of people here, but not a lot of people buying,” he said, packing up leather wear. “With the economy, things were slow this year.”

City police and Cambria 911 officials reported no significant problems over the weekend related to the event. Police said there were a handful of public drunkenness incidents.