WOW, what a mess our world is in. I had every intention in writing this to knock our mayor in Daytona Beach for making such a ridiculous decision to cut the last Saturday of Bike Week out for ONLY Main Street…totally unfair!!! Why should those bands, bars and vendors suffer when US 1 and beyond partied on?

No one went home, Saturday night Main Street was full of bikes, Iron Horse and Broken Spoke were packed, and I don’t believe they saved a life by the stunt they pulled. If it was such a crisis that one more day mattered it should have been a crisis all over the U.S. Now a few days later it is, so they say. 44 of our ad clients have had their establishments shut down with a day’s warning. No pay for bar staff, no sales for owners, no sales for the distributor, no bands paid! And this is just in our little microcosm of the world. I called everyone that was having to close due to the government mandate.

The ads in this coronavirus issue are still open currently or hope to be open by mid-April. The rest were thankful we allowed them to opt out as everything is so uncertain. Leesburg Bike Fest is cancelled. PLEASE put the 2021 rally on your list and if Thunder Beach can pull 2020 off please go!!! These vendors and local businesses are really hurting from this, particularly after 2 hurricanes in the recent past! I want to give a special thank you to the ad clients who supported us in this trying time, particularly Grandview Live who is shutdown for the 30 days. They said, “you support us, so we want to support you!” that gesture moved me to tears as it is costly to print this magazine. We pared this to our smallest issue ever rather than not print at all. There is still plenty to read in our magazine each month. We strive to make it more than just a yellow page book of ads. And figured if you are home stir crazy at least the joke page might entertain you.

We as a nation are all under stress about this. For me, more so about the economics and the fear this will hurt Trump’s reelection. But let’s not forget that for many people right now, it is how will I pay my rent? Even worse, if you happen to contract this damn thing, all the fear that comes with that suddenly becomes very real…although I still haven’t heard of one person from Bike Week that had it. Hope that stays true!

So, use your hand sanitizers, if they don’t impose Martial Law get out and ride an empty highway to nowhere and back and don’t forget your sunscreen.