By Lulu

Our first time to ride over to St. Pete to participate in Bert’s St. Pete Bike Fest held ON THE BEACH at Tradewinds Resort was awesome. I must say this is something between a Biker’s Spring Break and a bike rally. Most of the activities are pool side or on the beach!! I really felt like I was on vacation with friends that ride. Tradewinds is a beautiful resort with several properties and many pools, hot tubs, amazing sunsets, great foods and enough bars to walk down the beach to, that if you finished their Pub Crawl you would need to stumble back to your room. No cars were allowed on property…motorcycles only!!! And there were bikes around every nook and hallway.

The Kory Souza bike show was held in their banquet hall. Another banquet hall was turned into motorcycle parking…it was cool that they took such care of the guests staying on site. To keep the crowds entertained, games by the pool included building a boat out of cardboard, a hula hoop contest, trivia, hairy chest contest and belly flop contest (which our friend Kelly from Chrome Premium Cigars won). She was the best and the only girl that competed!!! There was a huge tent full of vendors at the hotel including Paul Sr. from OCC.

The property really filled up as the bands kicked in. The headliners this year were Fuel, Soul Asylum, Bret Michaels and The Charlie Daniels Band all drew a huge crowd. Two stages on the beach allowed bands time to set up and only short breaks in between. Saturday at sunset, a plane dropped parachutists to a huge flag on the beach. It was a very moving ceremony. Saturday night closed out with a great fireworks display. Sunday afternoon Tobacco Rd. Band played, and I had to buy a CD I enjoyed them so much. Bert’s Barracuda H-D gave away a 2019 Street Glide Sunday as part of the festivities. A short ride from Tradewinds at Bert’s Barracuda Harley-Davidson, was a parking lot full of vendors for those interested in shopping or buying a new bike. I can’t wait till next year. I will be poolside with my sunglasses and a frozen Margarita staying at Tradewinds…hope you join me!